


Oceans Blue and Eyes Ablaze

by AngryMintLeaf



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, Choking, Cussing, Drinking, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Enemies to Lovers, Good path ending, Illnesses, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, mild body horror, sex scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-08 06:27:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15237417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngryMintLeaf/pseuds/AngryMintLeaf
Summary: “What the fuck are you doing?”“My job, Detective.”Multiple androids have been reported missing, then later found dead and with missing limbs. RK900 and Gavin need to figure out the case, but they can’t function together. They bicker, they try to outperform the other, and try to avoid each other as much as possible. A fractured partnership carefully is pieced together.





	1. Unfortunately...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RK900 lies in a giant ocean, staring up at a clear sky. He tilts his head, seeing nothing but the vast sea surrounding him. RK900 tries to move his right arm, but nothing happens. He raises his left arm completely fine, closing and opening his fist with ease.
> 
> “Where am I?” He asks himself.
> 
> “It’s a mind garden,” RK900’s voice answers back. “Amanda was removed. There is simply… nothing here.”

Gavin sits at his desk, propping his legs up on the table as he scrolls through his case file. He’s been assigned this case for about a month now, but when the android revolution happened, everything came to a rough stand still. Gavin wasn’t surprised Connor played a rather large roll in it, too, as he became a rather famous face for civil rights activists. He was there during the march, freed thousands of androids from the CyberLife tower, and had multiple cameras fixed on him, along with Markus and whoever else beside him. It seemed like everyone in the world watched the protest…

 

Gavin looks up from his computer and at Captain Fowler’s office. Connor, Hank, and another android have been talking to Fowler for quite a while, and Gavin’s interest piques when they start to look over at him. If Gavin were to guess, he’d probably be going in there to be scolded again for some small little thing he did wrong. Sure enough, Connor leaves the office and walks over to Gavin’s desk.

 

“What do you want, dipshit?” Gavin questions, looking up at him.

Connor has a small grin on his face.

 

“Fowler wants to see you. You’re going to be getting a new partner today.”

 

He squints at Connor, then looks over at Fowler, who’s talking to Hank and the other android that’s starting to suspiciously look like Connor. Gavin rolls his eyes and gets up from his seat, saving the complaints for Fowler. Connor follows Gavin into the office, and the other android watches the two of them walk in. He looks almost exactly like Connor, but his eyes are a cold grey, he’s probably about five inches taller than his counterpart, and seems like he has a lot more muscle, as well.

 

“So what the fuck is up with this shit?” Gavin asks, folding his arms and looking at Fowler accusingly.

 

“Hank, Connor, you can leave,” Fowler says, and the two of them leave together, talking as soon as the door shuts behind them. “You’re getting a new partner because Tina resigned yesterday, and with extremely lucky timing—” Fowler looks at the android—“Connor and Hank found this RK900 model in the CyberLife tower, and have been keeping a watch on him for the last few days. This will be your new partner.”

 

The android turns to him and sticks out his hand. “Good morning, Detective Reed. I will be your—”

 

Gavin ignores RK900 and gives Fowler a scowl. “So this is the new trend? Hiring androids to do everything fucking better than we can, huh? You think I’m going to work with this plastic piece of shit?”

 

“Everyone has a partner, except for you, Gavin. The RK900 model is going to be able to handle you better than anyone else here can. I know Tina encouraged you quite a lot, but he will do nothing of the sort.”

 

“I do not need to be fucking watched like a child, Fowler! I’m thirty-fucking-six, and I can damn well look after myself.”

 

“I know that, Reed! You’re one of the best that we have here, and Hank already has an android, so before I revoke my previous statement, get the fuck out of my office.”

 

Gavin looks at the android, sneers, then leaves. Hank calls out over by his table, “You better take good fucking care of him!”

 

“Shut the fuck up, Anderson,” Gavin hisses back, practically stomping his feet on the way back to his desk. Gavin sits down fiercely in his chair and kicks his legs back up on his desk, getting out his phone to text Tina.

 

“Get your shoes off of the desk. They’re filthy,” RK900 states, his voice is the same as Connor’s, but it feels… colder.

 

“Does it look like I care?” Gavin looks up from his phone.

 

“It’s disrespectful to your colleagues, including me, so I would suggest you to—”

 

“Eat a fucking dick, and shut your mouth.” Gavin looks at RK900 in the corner of his eye, the android staring down at the floor for a few seconds with his LED spinning, which Gavin takes as a small victory. “Do you have any access to this case, tin can?”

 

Without talking, RK900 walks up behind him and stares intently at the monitor, flipping through the case files quickly. Gavin watches the android, getting a better look at the hunk of metal since he’s so close. The white jacket he wears is immaculate, with no hair or any stain on it that Gavin can see. RK900’s hair is the same; it’s perfectly groomed and every hair is in place, except for the one small lock of hair that hangs over his forehead.

 

RK900 leans back and begins to speak, “The first file was made on November ninth and the most recent was December second. It appears that many androids have been found dismembered in a variety of locations, most of the targets being the more upgraded models. Some witnesses have called in with their androids missing, only to be found deactivated and missing limbs.”

 

Gavin nods and folds his arms, looking up at RK900. “Anything else?”

 

The android stares down at Gavin’s feet that still sit on the desk, a sliver of annoyance cracking through his calm demeanor, but RK900 stops himself from saying anything about it, “Reports say there’s a fighting ring in Detroit, and competitors tend to end up the same way as the previously stated androids.”

 

Gavin sighs and rubs his face, scratching at his scruff. “Great.” He watches RK900 go back to the other side of the table, his hands behind his back. “Instead of just standing there, get me a coffee and be useful, you piece of plastic.” Gavin looks over at him, expecting the android to get up and start on his way like Connor did.

 

“If you’re too stupid to know where the coffee maker is, it’s in the breakroom, Detective Reed,” RK900 talks back, tilting his head.

 

“You really want to talk shit, android?!” Gavin spits out, standing up from his desk forcefully, getting the attention of his coworkers around him.

 

“Reed!” Hank calls out from his desk.

 

“Don’t you fucking start,” he says, pointing a finger at Hank. “This is none of your business.”

 

“Well, how about you go sit in a corner, like a child, so you can see how big of an idiot you are,” Hank talks back, also getting riled up.

 

Gavin balls his fists and stomps over to Anderson’s desk, then slams his hands down on the table. “You want to fucking mock me like that?”

 

“I’m saying the fucking truth, Reed.”

 

Gavin’s teeth clench, and he can feel the stares from the surrounding officers. Gavin takes a deep breath, then storms off, not even sure where his feet are going to take him. All he wants is to be alone.

 

He finds himself in the break room and figures now would be a good time to text Tina. Gavin leans against the table that they most often spent their breaks together at and pulls out his phone.

 

 _Tina, this place is a fucking shit show without you._ Gavin sent, not really sure if he would get a reply, but he continues, anyway. _Why didn’t you tell me you were quitting? God, I have so much shit to tell you._

 

She responds to his surprise. _I got a job offer for the FBI. I was going to tell that to you this weekend but seems like you already got the memo. What happened?_

 

_I have a fucking android. For a partner. To replace you._

 

_Are you kidding? Where the hell did they find one?_

 

 _Hank and Connor found it, or some shit,_ Reed replies.

 

 _Oh, my_ goood _. That’s hilarious._

 

Gavin continues to text her, letting out his steam. _Okay, but I’m seriously going to punch Hank today. He fucking called me a child in front of everyone just because my Android didn’t get me a coffee._

 

_That’s stupid. Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t punched Hank yet. What does your android look like? Send a picture when you can._

 

Before Gavin could reply to her text, he heard footsteps coming up from behind him. “Connor, if you expect me to apologize—“ Gavin turns around, seeing RK900 instead. “The hell do you want?”

 

“We’re partners. I am tasked with assisting you, Detective Reed.”

 

“You can shove off, plastic prick.” Gavin turns back to his phone, writing out his reply to Tina.

 

“Hank is right when he said you were being childish.”

 

Gavin slams his phone on the table and spins around, getting close to the android’s face. “You came in here just to fucking insult me, huh?”

 

“On the contrary, you were the one that called me a ‘plastic prick,’ Detective.”

 

Gavin pushes RK900 back, and the android staggers back only a few feet. “Get out of my face.”

 

RK900 grabs Gavin’s hand forcefully, and speaks with a dark tone, “I would refrain from trying to hurt me, Detective. I could easily file a complaint and get you fired with the new video I just recorded.” Gavin tries to forcefully pull his arm free, but the grip tightens momentarily before letting go.

 

Gavin pulls away quickly, swearing and looking at his wrist. It’s red, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he was going to see a bruise later. “Jesus,” he says under his breath. RK900 walks over to the counter and Gavin glances at him. “What are you doing?”

 

“I’m making you a coffee, Detective.”

 

Gavin opens his mouth, but stops himself, now watching as the android slowly prepares a cup of coffee. Gavin stares at RK900, still rubbing his wrist. The android walks over with straight, black coffee in a red mug, and Gavin takes it hesitantly.

 

“Hey,” Gavin says, looking down at his coffee. “I want to head out to check out the case, so get ready. I’ll be outside in ten.”

  


-010010000110100100100001-

  


RK900 prepared swiftly and armed himself with one of the station’s MS853 Black Hawk pistol. At the moment, he stands outside, waiting for his partner’s arrival. It’s two minutes past the expected time frame that Reed had given him, but RK900 proceeds to wait.

 

Hearing footsteps, RK900 turns around, spotting his partner. “You’re late, Detective Reed,” RK900 informs him.

 

The man rolls his eyes. “Shut up.” Gavin holds a red motorcycle helmet in his hands, and RK900 notes the way of transport. Gavin sneers at him and continues on his way to where a parked Yamaha FZ6 sits.

 

“Are you sure that this thing is… able to function?” RK900 stares at it suspiciously. “This motorcycle is of.. an older model of its series.”

 

Gavin looks back at RK900 with disgust, his face scrunching amusingly to RK900. “I’ve had this thing for years, you ungrateful piece of shit. It’s either this or some trashy car,” Gavin says. “Where did you say the fighting ring was at?”

 

RK900’s LED flashes momentarily before answering, “It’s near Riverside Park, more specifically on 130 Swain Street. It’s also close to Nicholson Terminal and Dock.” Gavin shifts on his feet, thinking. “I’ll be able to assist you on directions if needed.”

 

“...Sure. Let’s go,” Gavin says before putting on his motorcycle helmet.

  


-01000111011011110010000001010100011010010110110101100101-

  


They both sit close together on the motorcycle, which seems to make Gavin uncomfortable according to RK900’s frequent scans. After a while of driving, and a few annoying wrong turns, they arrive. The premise is surrounded by a few trees, bushes, and a barbwire fence.

 

Gavin parks the bike and they get off, he also pulls off his helmet. “This is the place?”

 

“This is what was given on the case files…” RK900 walks close to the fence and does a scan of the area, picking up 47 old car models that have been left to rust, along with a wood shack. RK900 carefully goes over the short fence and walks over to a clearing of cars. With another scan, he picks up spots of thirium on the dirt. He kneels down, letting his fingers touch the soil where the thirium is. It’s only a few days old, so it’s likely the android fights are still taking place here. RK900 stands up, looking at the trail of blue blood that goes straight to the shack. Gavin stands with his hands on his hips, looking around the perimeter of the hut.

 

RK900 walks over to the front of the shack and does a quick scan, detecting that the hinges are weak and that he could manage to kick down the door with ease. There also appears to be small windows surrounding the top of it.

 

“The door is locked, I already tried it,” Gavin says and stands next to RK900, his hands resting in his jacket pockets.

 

“I can easily kick the door down, Detective.”

 

The two of them make eye contact. “Wouldn’t you think it would be better if it looked like no one was here?” The LED flashes a brief yellow, RK900 trying to figure out a solution. Gavin… observes him. “We can come back to the scene tonight and see if we can get anywhere,” Gavin suggests.

 

“I think that would be the best approach, Detective Reed.”

 

Reed rubs his chin then steps away, making his way back to the motorcycle, so RK900 refrains from continuing the search and follows behind him.

 

“Where are we going to go now, Detective?”

 

“God, you’re getting annoying. It’s our lunch break, dumbass. Get on the bike before I drive off without you.”

 

RK900 complies, picking up Gavin’s heart rate as soon as he sits closely behind him. “Your heart is beating fast, Detective,” RK900 points out. “If you need to stop to take a break—”

 

“With the extra—what? Two-hundred pounds of dense metal? I’m scared you’ll break this thing.”

 

RK900’s brow furrows. “I can assure you that we both—”

 

Gavin cuts him off again. “I’m joking,” he says slowly, then puts on his helmet.

 

They drive around for a while, stopping and looking at different shops until Gavin settles on a fast food restaurant. RK900 can’t help but scan the foods people eat and feel a bit… disgusted. All of the food has such a high-calorie sodium intake. Certainly, this would be deemed as unhealthy, so why do they still continue to eat such filth? Gavin sits down across from him with his food, RK900 scanning that as well.

 

Gavin snorts. “You look like you have something shoved up your ass.”

 

“The food here is extremely unhealthy. I don’t understand how humans know that their food is killing them, yet continue to eat it anyways,” RK900 says truthfully.

 

“That’s what you’re so hung up about?” Gavin smiles and eats one of his fries. “It’s because it tastes good and that’s it. If androids could taste, I bet they’d be doing the same thing that we do.”

 

RK900 gives Gavin a look of disgust. “I think we would be smart enough to avoid anything like this in the first place.” Gavin rolls his eyes and wipes the salt off his fingers on his jeans, then pulls out his phone as he eats.

 

RK900 looks around the establishment, his hands fidgeting with the hem of his jacket. Connor talked about this with RK900 the night after they found him. They brought RK900 to Hank’s house and kept him there for a few days, Connor teaching him about how he works and what he is. His brother gave him a card deck to fiddle with, as a gift.

 

He remembers Connor sitting down next to him, showing RK900 how he fiddles with his coin. “It helps me focus. You’ll find yourself with nothing to do if you don’t have anything to fidget with, and it ends up clouding my judgment. It may be enhanced by my deviancy, but…” Connor shrugged.

 

“How do I become a deviant?” RK900 asked eagerly.

 

“It’s...CyberLife wanted us to remain machines, and I’m assuming your program makes it ten times more difficult to become a deviant.” Connor looked down at the floor. “You don’t have Amanda anymore do you?”

 

“You told me that the program named Amanda has been deleted, and I haven’t come across anyone by the name of Amanda.”

 

Connor smiled. “Great… Hey, you should start thinking of a name. Maybe that will help you start with deviating.”

 

The feeling of his fingers against the box sets something in him to ease. RK900 pulls out the deck and rests the stack of cards in his hand, then shuffles them, tapping against the table occasionally.

 

“What are you doing?” Reed asks.

 

“I’m using my card deck, Detective Reed.”

 

“Well, yeah, I see that, but why?”

 

RK900 arranges the cards in left hand and raises it, springing it down to his right hand with ease. “RK series… tend to have ticks. Connor has his quarters, and I have my cards. We want to keep busy.”

 

“God, it’s like they just program you guys to turn deviant, or something.”

 

RK900 glares at Gavin. “I am a machine, Detective.”

 

“You seemed to be disgusted by my food earlier. That’s an emotion that machines don’t fucking have.”

 

“Saying an observation about the state of humans engorging themselves on succulent poisons does not make me show a state of emotion. I _am_ a machine,” RK900 says sternly, coming out more sharp than the last time.

 

Gavin leans back into the booth, side-eyeing RK900. “Whatever you fucking say.”

  


-010010000110110101101101-

  


The old car lot looks almost completely different than how it appeared in daylight. A surprising amount of people stand with androids, talking amongst each other. They both walk forward, pass the barbed wire and bushes.

 

“Hey, I haven’t seen your face before,” a young man spoke, leaning against the shack with a lit cigarette in his hand.

 

“My friend told me about this place,” Gavin responds smoothly. “I stole this hunk of metal and I want to see how it can hold up in a fight.” He pats the android’s shoulder and smiles. A part of Gavin wouldn’t want to see this thing fight, even if it would be awesome. Fowler would chew his ass if he saw one scratch on the thing.

 

“Wow… A gorgeous model. I’m surprised you were able to get your hands on it.” The man walks in front of RK900 and looks him up and down. “Aren’t these those detective androids? I saw one on the news about a week ago, so you really struck gold here.”

 

“I know. This thing wasn’t easy to smuggle, cost me a meer fortune too.”

 

“I wouldn’t doubt it for a second. Do you want to put in for tonight's show?”

 

“I think it’ll be able to keep up a good fight, so why not, right?”

 

“Certainly. You got a fucking beauty on your hands, mister.” The man winks then takes a drag of his cigarette. “This thing could probably kill a whole army,” he says, puffing out smoke.

 

“I bet… it can.” Gavin gives another pat to RK900’s shoulder and heads off to the right, motioning for RK900 to follow behind him, which he does. Reed squints at the small crowd of people, the place lit dimly with a barrel fire. A few androids seem to be off by themselves, most likely deviants, to his guess.

 

“Gavin.” RK900’s voice makes Reed jump.

 

“What?!”

 

“If I enter into a fight, you can investigate the shack while I distract the crowd. We came here for evidence, after all.”

 

Gavin nods slowly. “Yeah, but we still need to look for the thief, dumbass.” As they talk, it seems like people are starting to get ready.

 

“I can record everything that I see, Detective.” RK900’s tone sharpens.

 

“Fine. Just don’t get your ass beat.” Gavin bites his lip and watches as people shuffle around and one person stands up on a car, speaking loudly.

 

“Hey, thank you for all coming out tonight! We wish that you all have a fun show and enjoy every ounce of every fight,” An older woman speaks with confidence. “We have our remaining champion, right here.” She waves her hand at an android without its skin wearing a grey sweatshirt.

 

The android jumps up and down, the crowd giving a grand applause. The sweatshirt it wears looks like it’s too small for it’s build, and you can’t see the face over its hood. Gavin looks back at the woman when she continues and the clapping quiets.

 

“Every winner gets five-hundred dollars in straight cash as soon as the opponent is knocked out. Everything is game! All we ask is that you don’t use any weapons, except for your fists. Now, let’s get into some action!” Cheers of excitement spread throughout the crowd and the lady steps off of the car. “Now, Vix, I know that you’re feeling a bit excited, so how ‘bout we start off with you?”

 

The android in the sweatshirt nods, rubbing their hands together. “I want something that actually can keep up with me for once,” Vix says back playfully.

 

“Well, do we have any volunteers?”

 

RK900 and a few other’s shoot their hands up, and Vix looks around, spotting RK900. “I haven’t seen your face here before. What’s going on, Connor?”

 

RK900 walks away from Gavin and to Vix, responding in the same cold voice, “I can tell you that Connor is simply my prototype. I am better than him in every way imaginable, so please refrain from saying such a pitiful name to my face.”

 

Vix pulls back their hood and gives a cocky smile. “I like your style.”

Gavin starts to move towards his left nonchalantly, eyes still glued to the clearing where the two androids stand.

 

The lady speaks up again, “Three rounds, if one of you break before then, well, you lose. Let’s start this off with a bang! Don’t disappoint your crowd, darlings!”

 

He hears the crowd cheering, and his stomach feels like it’s tied in a knot. Watching RK900 take off his jacket and throw it off to the side and squaring up to his contender makes Gavin’s heart beat with… excitement. Everyone starts to count down, and his breath hitches ever so slightly. Vix takes the first hit from RK900 as soon as the countdown ends, and the two of them go at it. Reed moves slowly towards the hut, trying to not catch anyone’s eye.

 

Vix goes down quickly, RK900 pinning them into the dirt, and Vix just smiles. Reed would be lying if he didn’t want to at least watch for a few seconds longer. Gavin gets behind the shack, looking up at the window just above him. He grabs onto the window sill and pulls himself up, falling onto the cold floor inside. Gavin groans, rubbing his back that shoots with pain. He slowly stands up and looks around. He can still hear the crowd hooting and hollering from inside.There seems to be a multitude of weapons stashed around in every corner; a bucket of knives in one corner, and a bundle of axes in the other.

 

Gavin pulls out his phone and the light flashes, taking pictures of the scene, then continues to look around. It probably wasn’t worth the risk of going in here only to find very little, but the stupid android would probably be happy. Gavin scoffs at the thought. There’s more cheering from outside, the people practically screaming. He’s surprised this place has been able to keep itself hidden at all, even. Gavin takes out one of the knives, looking over it carefully. The handle has a wooden engraving of a snake that wraps around it, and the blade looks extremely sharp.

 

Gavin leans down, hearing another loud cheer and looks at the other knives, spotting similar designs. All of these look extremely well made, most likely expensive knives, too. He shoves the knife in his pocket, then sighs, knowing he has to go back out the window again. He jumps and catches onto the sill and pulls himself over, landing on his feet this time.

  


-010101100110100101111000-

  


Even if the fight looks extremely fast pace, RK900 keeps himself in his focus for brief moments, time seems to feel slow for him. He watches the small incremental movements before adjusting and then swerves out of the way of a punch, swinging a hit into Vix’s side.

 

For the entire fight, RK900 continuously scans the android, slowly piecing together the android model. The left arm belongs to a TR400, the right being a GS200. Just with this, he can confirm those two models have been one of the many broken androids on record. The face is of a DQ100 model, ones made specifically for testing car crashes, or anything dangerous. It’s likely Vix is able to attach parts so easily because of it being cheaper to replace a destroyed DQ100 model with parts from an another android.

 

They both trade hits and dodge for a solid minute, until RK900 tries to pin Vix, but DQ100 slips away and gets a good hit to the back of his neck, his vision flickers. RK900 quickly grabs onto the hand pressing down onto his neck and flips them.

 

“That’s three ladies and gentlemen!”

 

The people erupt in a loud applause. RK900 scans the crowd for Gavin but doesn’t see his face. He goes over and retrieves his jacket, putting it back on.

 

“We have a new champion folks! That looked just too easy for this RK900 model!”

 

RK900 pays no mind to the announcer, and parts through the crowd to find Gavin, finding him leaning against the hutt, smiling.

 

“I got some evidence. Did you find the one we were looking for?”

 

“Yes. It is most likely the one I fought. I was able to pick up on the different modeled limbs. The motive also matches up, and all of the fight was recorded.”

 

“Sweet. This was pretty easy. We just need to get Vix to the department, now.” RK900 nods, hearing the announcer calling off another fight. “You better not be fucking damaged, plastic. I don’t want Fowler getting up my ass about this.”

 

“I am in perfect condition. Although, I would prefer if my jacket wasn’t covered in dirt.”

 

“It’s not covered in it,” Gavin says, shrugging lightly.

 

“Yes, but I can pick up every area where it does have dirt on it, Detective.”

 

An ignition of a car catches both of their attention, and with no hesitation, RK900 sprints over to the street, leaving Gavin. He catches Vix’s face in the driver's seat, now pulling out and going down the road. RK900 shoots around, ready to go run to Gavin, but he’s seemed to have followed him. “Detective, I need the keys to the motorcycle.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Give me the keys, Detective!” RK900 shouts, holding out his hand. Gavin digs into his pocket and tosses him the key and RK900 bolts over to the motorcycle.

 

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

 

“I’m going to trail Vix. I’ll send you my location when I am able to incapacitate them.”

 

Gavin starts climbing over the fence. “Oh, no you fucking don’t! That’s my motorcycle, asshole.”

 

“Then hurry and _get on,”_ RK900 demands.

 

“I’m driving this fucking thing, asshole, so move over,” Gavin shouts at RK900.

 

RK900 hesitates for a second, but follows his orders and lets Gavin drive. Gavin floors it and, already, Vix is about one-hundred meters away from them. RK900 grabs tightly onto Gavin’s shoulders.

 

Vix takes a sharp turn and drives through a fence, making a terrible sound of metal chewing up metal. Gavin continues to drive on the road and RK900 keeps his eyes trained on the vehicle as it drives through the small plane of grass. RK900’s eyes close and he does a quick scan, reconstructing the possible routes Vix will take.

 

His eyes shoot open. “Follow them through here.”

 

Gavin hesitates to go off the road but complies. “You better fucking be right, plastic!” Gavin yells over the sound of Vix driving through another fence.

 

“Trust me,” RK900 says quietly. Vix goes back onto the street and takes a sharp turn to the right and out of RK900’s vision. “I’m calling for backup, Detective.”

 

“What? We fucking have this!” RK900’s LED flashes yellow as he sends the call. Gavin slows down to drive over the torn down fence, but speeds up again, gaining speed. In a brief second, RK900 scans the cars in the area to find Vix’s and barely finds the roof of the car pulling off to go on the Ambassador Bridge.

 

“Take a right, they’re going on the bridge.” As Gavin starts to turn the motorcycle, RK900 feels the bike shift. _He turned too sharply._

 

In a split second, RK900 wraps his body around his partner before they tip and fall, taking most of the blow instead of Gavin. He feels his part of his synthetic skin on his face tear, along with the fabric of his jacket from skirting against the road. With a quick scan, RK900 sees that Gavin is uninjured, but his heart rate has increased exponentially.

 

“Jesus-fucking-Christ!” Gavin tries to squirm out of RK900’s arms, so the android lets him go. They both get up, Gavin a little too quickly, and RK900 steadies him with his arms.

 

“There’s no time, Detective.” RK900 looks down at Gavin. Reed pushes away from RK900 and goes over to his bike. He curses when he sees the ruined paint job. “I’m going to drive.”

 

RK900 gets on the motorcycle again, this time at the front, and Gavin sighs, then sits behind him. His arms wrap tightly around RK900’s stomach. The android takes no time to start off again, a part of him thinking about what would happen if they don’t catch Vix. “Hang on.”

 

The arms tighten around him when RK900 accelerates and starts to swerve tightly through the traffic. He scans every second to try and catch a glimpse of Vix’s car, and after passing multiple people that honk or yell at him, he spots the car. RK900 makes the motorcycle accelerate even more and he pulls out his gun.

 

RK900 aims for the tires of Vix’s vehicle, but other cars get in the way. Gaining speed, he swerves between the cars, Gavin’s grip around him tight. He trains his gun at one of the tires of Vix’s car and shoots, a few cars swerving and stopping just because of the sound of the gunshot. RK900 aims for the other back tire and fires off another shot, and the air in the tire puffs out. He continues as glass fires out from the back of Vix’s car as another bullet is shot at the vehicle.

 

Vix swerves to the left and crashes into the bridge. He can hear glass shatter and shouting from both Gavin and the people around. RK900 pulls over to the side of the bridge and runs up to the car with his gun drawn, Gavin doing the same. “Detective, stay back and cover me. You might get hurt.”

 

“Fuck that.”

 

RK900’s brow furrows. “We need Vix alive, so don’t kill them.”

 

With caution, RK900 goes closer to the car. The front of the car looks completely destroyed, the airbags were deployed as well, so there’s hope of Vix surviving the crash.

 

RK900 grabs onto the door handle and swings it open, but receives a kick to the chin, only making him stagger back a few feat. Swiftly, Vix takes out a knife and stabs RK900’s throat. There’s a gunshot and Vix swiftly gets behind RK900, using him as a shield from Gavin’s pistol. Their arm is wrapped around his throat and continues to dig the knife in further, their other arm restrains RK900.

 

“Put the gun down. You don’t want to kill your own android, right?” Vix calls out.

 

“I don’t fucking care about him. Kill him if you want,” Gavin states with his gun still drawn.

 

“You want answers about your case right?” Vix questions, their LED flashing yellow. “I can tell you that I am not the only one involved here. If you kill me, you won’t ever get any answers.”

 

RK900 bends his knees, then shoots up, knocking Vix back and also freeing him. RK900 takes no time hesitating, as he grabs onto the back of Vix’s head and slams it hard into the railing. There's a crunch and a deafening scream that would hurt RK900’s ears if he was human. RK900 pulls Vix back by their hair. A diagnostic states that Vix’s stress is incredibly high and could self-destruct at any given moment.

 

RK900 let’s go of their hair and goes to take the knife out of his throat. He runs another diagnostic and notices his voice changer was damaged. Gavin walks slowly towards the two of them, gun still trained on Vix’s head.

 

“You move, and I shoot, fucking plastic.” Gavin briefly glances over at RK900. “You look like a fucking train wreck.”

 

“I’m fine, Detective.” RK900’s voice is static and hollow.

 

“Jesus, that doesn’t sound fine.” Gavin steps closer to Vix then asks, “Is this thing still functional?”

 

“Yes, Vix is still online.”

 

Gavin stands only inches away from them now, which was a major mistake. Vix flips over and grabs him and his gun. Vix wraps his arms around Gavin’s stomach, standing dangerously close to the edge with the gun pointed in a random direction. Their vision is severely damaged.

 

“Come any closer and I’ll walk right back and into the water.”

 

“You little shit!” Gavin tries to kick and punch, but it doesn’t phase Vix.

 

RK900 marks every analytic down. The survival rate if Gavin were to fall in the water, if RK900 could possibly catch him off guard, and a million other possibilities run through his head, but RK900’s feet move and he charges. He charges right towards Vix and pushes Gavin back while both RK900 and Vix fall off.

 

Something inside of RK900 stirs awake.

 

_Fear._

 

RK900 hits the water and he feels the connection to his right arm hault. He’s… sinking. RK900 tries desperately to swim, seeing a rock wall that he could hold onto. His systems blare at him, saying how his parts will freeze if he doesn’t get out of the water, but the current refuses to let him go. He latches onto the retaining wall desperately, trying to fight against the current as much as he can. Looking up, he can see that’s he’s not too far down. With the last urge to live, he tries to climb.

  


**_-01001000011001010110110001110000-_ **

  


Gavin quickly gets off of his motorcycle and runs into Riverside Windsor Sculpture Park, the place close enough to the water where he saw RK900 fall in. He leans over the railing and looks into the water, but sees nothing. Gavin starts to run, continuing to look down at the river for any signs of his partner.

 

There’s a dark figure in the water, not even too far down, but Gavin can see a small red light flashing. His eyes widen and he shakes his head. _Something is definitely wrong if he’s not able to get up here himself._ Both of his hands go through his hair and he bites his lip. Gavin takes a deep breath then starts taking off his jacket and shirt, also leaving anything in his pockets with his clothing.

 

“Oh my god, this is going to be so fucking cold. Okay, come on. You’ll only be in it for a second,” Gavin speaks quickly, desperately trying to calm himself. “God, you fucking stupid android.” Gavin jumps over the railing and into the water, his body screaming at him once he hits the water. He bumps into something and tries to open his eyes. RK900 looks… like shit. His arm is completely gone, there’s a deep cut his throat, and his once fine looking jacket, is now torn to pieces.

 

Gavin grabs onto the rock and onto RK900 with his other hand, urging him upwards. He feels his lungs starting to strain, but he continues, slowly getting RK900 out of the water. They get over and back onto land, Gavin immediately holding himself and shivering. He slowly walks back over to his dry clothes, wrapping himself in them and sitting down.

 

“Jesus… fuck.” Gavin picks up his phone and shakily calls Chris.

 

“Gavin?” Chris answers back.

 

“It’s a fuckin’ emergency. I’m freezing cold and RK900 needs to be sent to a mechanic immediately.”

 

“I’ll send a group over there to you.”

 

Gavin hangs up on him and looks up at RK900. He’s not sure if RK900 can even hold a conversation right now, cause quite frankly, the android looks like he’s about to die.

 

RK900 abruptly leans down and starts taking off his jacket and shirt. Gavin watches as the android opens up his chest and water drains out of him, RK900’s LED still glowing an urgent red. A loud siren can be heard.

  


-01010111011000010110101101100101001000000111010101110000-

  


RK900 lies in a giant ocean, staring up at a clear sky. He tilts his head, seeing nothing but the vast sea surrounding him. RK900 tries to move his right arm, but nothing happens. He raises his left arm completely fine, closing and opening his fist with ease.

 

“Where am I?” He asks himself.

 

“It’s a mind garden,” RK900’s voice answers back. “Amanda was removed. There is simply… nothing here.”

 

RK900 sees himself standing on the water, they both stare at each other. “Did… I die?”

 

“Your software kept you in an emergency state of rest. Your partner went into the water to save you.”

 

“I remember that… I wouldn’t think he would.”

 

“You need to wake up,” it states.

 

RK900 closes his eyes, feeling the water flow nicely below him. “Can’t I stay here? I’m… tired.”

 

“Don’t you want revenge for what Vix did to you? Don’t you remember?”

 

RK900 keeps his eyes shut tight, but he can feel the waves underneath him start to get more intense.

 

“That only happened because of my failure,” he answers back.

 

“Don’t you remember what you _felt?_ ”

 

RK900’s eyes shoot open and he feels _pain._ A rush of memories hit him and he feels the knife digging into his throat, the impact of the water crushing his arm, and the feeling of his body freezing. He screams. The tiny rolls of water becoming big, heavy waves.

 

“Wake up.”

 

RK900 opens his eyes and finds himself on a table in a white room. His creator,  Elijah Kamski, leaning over him with his hands inside of his chest. He pushes up his glasses with his wrist, as his fingers are covered in blue blood.

 

“Oh, good. Glad to see you up and running,” Elijah says, a smile on his face. He closes RK900’s chest and walks away. RK900 hears the sound of running water and he tries to move his head, but something is restricting him. RK900 does a quick scan, noting that approximately thirty-one new wires are plugged into his arms, legs, and back. Kamski comes back, drying off his hands with a towel. “RK900, run a diagnostic.”

 

RK900 blinks rapidly and his LED flashes yellow for a brief moment. “I detect an error in my software. My receptors in my right hand and arm are not sending signals.”

 

Kamski lifts up RK900’s arm, pulls out a half a dozen cables, and plugs new ones in. “Run another diagnostic.”

 

RK900 blinks fast again. “All programs functioning.”

 

“Test your voice changer for me.” Kamski tosses the towel off to the side.

 

“Testing voice modifier,” RK900 says in Kamski’s voice.

 

Elijah nods. “Good.” Kamski goes behind RK900 and fiddles around with his head and he pulls something out, then quickly replaces it. The man walks back to where RK900 can see him and starts to pull out the wires. “You were in terrible condition when you got here. You’re very lucky your partner was smart enough to bring you here. No other mechanic would have been able to fix you.”

 

“Detective Reed?”

 

“Yes. He’s waiting in the lobby.” Kamski finishes unplugging RK900. “Stand up.” RK900 sits up slowly and gets off the table. Kamski rests a hand on the android’s shoulder comfortably. “I’m surprised an android as advanced as you were able to get damaged so quickly. You’re one of my favorite models, RK900.”

 

“There’s no excuses. I must learn and improve from this failure.”

 

“I’m glad. I do warn you, though, that parts compatible with you are sparse, so if you get damaged again, drop by as soon as you can.” Kamski walks over to a box of supplies, sifting through it. “How are you adjusting to Gavin?”

 

“Detective Reed is a frustrating case,” RK900 says truthfully.

 

Kamski snorts and takes off his glasses, putting them off to the side. “I haven’t seen him in so long. In a way, I’m happy fate lead the both of you here.”

 

“How so?”

 

“He’s my brother,” Kamski says, taking out a small white box. He walks over to the table and sets it down. “Gavin never visits. I think you being his partner is going to help him quite a lot. You both can learn a lot from each other.” Kamski opens the box and takes out a set of clothes and hands it to RK900. “I know it’s not your old uniform, but it’s something.”

 

RK900 takes the pair of clothes and feels the material. It’s a simple dark grey, long-sleeved, cotton shirt with black jeans. “Thank you, Kamski.”

 

“When you leave, can you ask Gavin to come visit again, sometime?”

 

“Of course.” RK900 dips his head, giving Kamski a small bow.

 

RK900 leaves the room once he’s fully dressed and goes up a flight of stairs, a Chloe waiting at the top for him.

 

“This way,” she says softly and opens the door for him.

 

“God, there you fucking are. Made me wait for fucking forever,” Gavin grumbles, standing up and folding his arms. “It’s even night out, already.”

 

“Why aren’t you in the hospital, Detective?”

 

“I was only there for a short while. Nothing was wrong with me, except just being fucking cold.”

 

RK900’s LED goes yellow briefly and then he nods. He walks up to Gavin and bows. “It was my fault that Vix got away due to my incompetence. I will be better.” RK900 stands up straight and watches Gavin, an awkward grin on his face.

 

“Listen, plastic prick. Don’t you _ever_ do something like that again. Fowler fucking lectured me for a whole thirty minutes about how I let you get damaged so quickly. Don’t… Don’t ever fucking sacrifice yourself.”

 

“It was the most optimal outcome. If I didn’t charge Vix, then there would be a high probability of your death.”

 

“That’s because I—never mind.” Gavin stops himself. “The DPD was able to find Vix’s body in the river, but the body is almost beyond repair.

 

RK900 picks up on the small details of Gavin’s body language. He’s hunched over and avoiding eye contact with RK900, and his face is pale.

 

Gavin clears his throat, then coughs. “I-I’m leaving.” He turns away from him and starts heading to the door, clearing his throat again.

 

Before following him, RK900 looks at his right arm, closing and opening his fist, then follows Gavin.

 

***

 

Kamski folds his arms and sighs. “Chloe,” he says, turning to face her, “remind me to make more RK900 models.”

 

“Of course, Elijah. ...Do you think that RK900 can help Gavin?”

 

“Something is bound to happen.” Elijah smirks and watches as they pull out of his driveway. “Who knows, they might just be the perfect fit.”

 

-01010111011000010110101101100101001000000111010101110000-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope to give some more content to the Reed900 pairing because it's really a good one! I know there are a few errors in the chase scene (especially about the bridge), but I tried. The next chapter will be up shortly!


	2. Twisty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Aaaagh, Jesus Christ,” Gavin complains to no one, well, maybe his cat, Monty. It’s freezing in his apartment, his throat is burning, and his mind is pounding.
> 
> I saved that fucking android to get fucking sick?
> 
> Gavin groans and ignores the blaring ad on the tv. He dropped RK900 at the station about an hour ago, and a part of him wishes he didn’t go saving that android’s ass. Now, look where it’s got him.
> 
> Still wrapped up in the blanket, Gavin gets up and walks to his kitchen, heading straight for the fridge. He grabs a beer can and pops it open.
> 
> “Fuck this.”

“Aaaagh, Jesus Christ,” Gavin complains to no one, well, maybe his cat, Monty. It’s freezing in his apartment, his throat is burning, and his mind is pounding.

 

_I saved that fucking android to get fucking sick?_

 

Gavin groans and ignores the blaring ad on the tv. He dropped RK900 at the station about an hour ago, and a part of him wishes he didn’t go saving that android’s ass. _Now,_ look where it’s got him.

 

Still wrapped up in the blanket, Gavin gets up and walks to his kitchen, heading straight for the fridge. He grabs a beer can and pops it open.

 

“Fuck this.”

 

-0100010001110010011101010110111001101011-

 

 _RK900._ RK900 opens his eyes from hearing Connor’s voice in his head and looks around. Connor had seemingly just gotten into the station with Hank, a bit earlier than usual.

 

 _How are you?_ Connor asks.

 

 _I’m functioning at my best efficiency. I took my mistakes and I have spent the entire night working on internal improvements._ RK900 says and looks at his right hand, closing it and opening it.

 

Connor sits down at his desk and starts talking with Hank, but continues chatting with RK900, _How so?_

 

_I have equipped myself with multiple concealed weapons. I have a dozen knives at the ready in case of emergency._

 

Connor pauses, his LED flashing yellow for a brief moment. _Don’t let it get to you._

 

RK900’s brow furrows but leaves it at that.

 

The android waited at Gavin’s desk for a half-hour and something clicked inside of him. Without wasting another second, RK900 left the DPD building and called down a taxi.

 

RK900 walks up a flight of stairs, heading towards Gavin’s apartment. Fortunately, Fowler had given RK900 Gavin’s address for any case of emergency, and it was also on his file. He tries the door and… surprisingly, it opens. RK900 quietly shuts and locks the door behind him, then feels something rubbing against his leg.

 

A fluffy white and grey cat looks up at him, RK900 staring back. He walks away from the door and does a quick scan of the area. The apartment is rather clean—not up to RK900’s standards, but it’s clean—and is decorated very nicely. The main color theme is black and red, matching Gavin’s usual color choice with his clothing. Despite the usual essentials, there’s several cat toys, a tree, and the like scattered around. Now that RK900 goes over that fact, pets are actually restricted in this complex. Although figuring the relationship they have with each other, it would be best to bring that up at a… later time.

 

He walks into the kitchen, seeing a few beer cans in the trash and some Chinese takeout thrown in, too. RK900 looks up from the bin and observes that the tv plays, unmuted. RK900 goes over to turn it off but spots Gavin lying on the couch with his eyes half-lidded. The coffee table in front of him has multiple, presumably, empty beer cans scattered on it, along with a few used tissues.

 

“Detective, you’re late for work.” RK900 gets a groan in response. The android gets closer and leans down. He doesn’t even need to do a scan to figure out that he’s sick, but he does one anyway. There are traces of beer on his mouth, his face is flushed, and he looks… gross. Hesitantly, RK900 rests the back of his hand on his partner’s forehead, and after a moment, he lifts his hand off and notes that Gavin has a temperature of 101.3 degrees.

 

“Why didn’t you call in sick, Detective Reed?”

 

“How the fuck did you get in here?” Gavin says quietly, his voice hoarse, and ignores the question.

 

“The door was unlocked.”

 

Gavin stiffens and sits up, looking over at the door, then back at RK900. “Christ,” Gavin huffs and sinks back into the couch.

 

RK900 walks back over to the kitchen and washes his hands, calling out to him from there, “You need to call Captain Fowler and say you’re using a sick day.”

 

“Fuck Fowler,” Gavin tries to shout back.

 

RK900 shakes his hands, then wipes them dry with a paper towel. “Do you want to stay here or not?” He throws the towel into the trash and spots the cat jumping up on the island. Gavin gives another groan in response while RK900 shoos the cat off the counter. “I’m calling in for you, Detective.”

 

“Good morning, Captain Fowler,” RK900 greets and watches Gavin carefully as he gets up. “I’m currently at Detective Reed’s residence. He is staying home sick today and…” Gavin stands there, looking at him, with a fuzzy grey blanket wrapped around him, his bare legs visible. “I will be staying here to take care of him.” RK900 stops the call and walks over to Gavin.

 

“You’re not staying here, fuck bot.”

 

RK900 raised an eyebrow at the new nickname. “You should lie down.”

 

“You’re the one that got me sick!” Gavin grumbles and points his finger at RK900. “You made me go into the water.” RK900 opens his mouth to speak, but Reed’s demeanor changes in a blink of an eye.

 

Gavin looks at the floor, tears starting to brim over. RK900’s LED flashes yellow. “I’m sorry! You got hurt because of me.” Gavin rubs his eyes, but tears continue to fall.

 

“You’re drunk and sick, Detective. You need to sit down.” RK900 puts his arms out cautiously, just in case he does tumbles over, but Gavin just leans in and treats it like a hug, sobbing into his shirt. RK900 falters, his fingers wriggling, being unsure of what to do.

 

Hug back?

 

Stay still?

 

Move away?

 

Slowly, RK900 stiffly puts his hands on the back of Gavin and gives a few pats. “There...there.”

 

Gavin cries harder and tightens his hold on RK900, which was the _opposite_ of what RK900 thought was going to happen. His LED circles yellow for too long. A machine of this calibur should not be buffering like he is, but here RK900 stands there, _hugging_ his partner. Something… itches in the back of his head, but he quickly shakes it off.

 

“Detective…You need to get to bed,” RK900 repeats himself, the LED still flashing a bright yellow. Gavin says something unintelligible and RK900 just puts it down as pointless jabber. His LED settles back on a calm blue and he picks Gavin up and rests him on his shoulder.

 

With Gavin still crying, RK900 takes him to his bedroom and sets him down on his bed. Without RK900 needing to say anything, Gavin starts going under the covers and nestling his head into the numerous amount of pillows on his bed. He takes a second to look around his room. It has the same color palette as the rest of the apartment but has a bit more decor. There’s a few posters and paintings hanging up on the walls, along with some artificial plants here and there. Ignoring the few pants and shirts on the floor, the room looks relatively pleasing.

 

RK900 leaves the room and begins to shut the door, but the cat slips inside the room. It jumps up on the foot of the bed and walks up to Gavin. RK900 watches as it promptly lies down on Gavin’s chest and faintly starts purring. The door closes quietly and RK900 figures he should spend his time wisely.

 

-01010011011010010110001101101011-

 

Gavin turns on his side, slowly waking up. It was dark in his room, which… didn’t make sense. It was just morning and he was on the couch watching some lame soap opera, or something. He sits up, Monty getting up and moving away in protest. Gavin leaves the warmth of his bed and shambles out of his bedroom, coughing along the way.

 

A pot of… something sits on the burner in his kitchen, and now that he’s paying attention, his kitchen looks extremely clean. _Wait a fucking second._

 

“There’s soup being heated up in the pot, Detective.”

 

Gavin shoots around, the dumb android seated on his couch stacking a tower of cards. “What the fuck are you doing?!” Gavin shouts but quickly remembers how sick he is, as his throat aches from talking too loud.

 

“I’m stacking my cards if that is not so obvious,” RK900 says and looks at Gavin.

 

“No, no,” Gavin starts and walks closer to RK900. “How the hell did you get in here?”

 

“The door was simply unlocked. You’ve slept for quite some time. I got you into bed around noon and it’s nine now.”

 

Gavin rubs his forehead in frustration. “Can’t you leave me the fuck alone?”

 

“I’m your partner, Gavin. Not only am I that, but I am also a machine made to serve.”

 

“God, on with that fucking bullshit again.”

 

RK900 stands up and Gavin recognizes the height difference with him so close. “Go eat your soup,” RK900 says simply and walks away and into Gavin’s bedroom.

 

“Wh-Hey, what the fuck?”

 

“I’m going to clean your bedroom. Now, go eat your soup.”

 

RK900 shuts the door in Gavin’s face, and part of him wants to fling that door open, but his aching body would regret it. He opens the cabinet, full completely of clean dishes. “Jesus…” _That tin can did the dishes, too?_

 

He dishes out some soup and sits down on his couch, pleasantly surprised so far with how good it smells. He drapes himself with a blanket and takes his first spoonful of soup. It’s rich in flavor and tastes fresh. The broth is thin and compliments the vegetables that were cooked perfectly. RK900 may not be so useless. RK900 comes back and sits down carefully next to Gavin, as to not spill his soup.

 

Gavin expected him to say something, but… he just watched. He felt the hot stare every time the spoon went into his mouth, distantly reminding him of a predator with its prey. Gavin gives him a side glance. “Is there something you want? I thought you hated people eating, or whatever.”

 

“Food that is grossly unhealthy is what I hate, Detective. I made this soup accounting for your health at the moment. The nutritional value is—”

 

Gavin raises his hand up, motioning him to stop. “I don’t care about that. Could you just stop watching me, you fucking creep?” RK900 nods and turns his head, going back to his tower of cards.

 

“Kamski asked me to tell you to visit. He seems to miss your company.”

 

“He can go fuck himself,” Gavin says, looking down at his bowl of soup. He sighs and takes another spoonful before talking. “He’s been bugging me for years.”

 

“He’s your brother, Detective,” RK900 says smoothly. His voice is soft and calming to hear in that tone, something in the back of Gavin’s mind stirs.

 

“Hell if he is. He’s still a giant asshole, but I guess to you, he’s some sort of God, right? I bet you, or any other android, would kiss his ass in a heartbeat.” Gavin rubs his nose with his sleeve, the hot soup making his nose run. At least it’s not stuffy anymore. Gavin spots Monty walking past them, probably going into the window. He rubs Gavin’s and RK900’s legs as she walks by.

 

RK900 breaks his staring contest with the wall and looks at Monty. Gavin watches suspiciously as RK900 scratches her head as she meanders by. The android looks at his hand, then opens his fist and closes it. “She’s soft.”

 

Reed raises an eyebrow. “Yeah…?”RK900 leans down and brushes the fur off his pants with his hand. “You… are so fucking weird.” They sit in silence. Gavin finishes his soup and sets the bowl down on the table and he tangles himself around the blanket and lies down. He curls his legs really close to his body, so he doesn’t end up touching RK900, but fails in his attempt.

 

“Detective, may I ask you a question?” Gavin says nothing, so he takes it as a yes. “Why did you jump in to save me.”

 

Gavin pulls back the blanket to look at him and he takes a moment before answering. “Because Fowler would have probably killed me. Plus, Connor and Hank would have a personal vendetta against me, since you got destroyed in my hands.”

 

“I don’t believe you are telling the one-hundred percent truth, Detective Reed.”

 

“Fuck off. I don’t have to tell you shit,” Gavin stammers and puts the blanket over his face again.

 

“Thank you for saving me, Gavin.”

 

Gavin’s face scrunches and he’s very glad that plastic asshole can’t see his face. “Yeah...Sure.”

 

-01001000011001010110000101101100-

 

Gavin sits and looks through the one-sided mirror and at Vix. They’re in terrible shape. Their bottom half is completely missing, one of their eyes are a dark black, and their head looks as if it hit a lot of rocks on the fall down. Gavin is still amazed that they were able to get that thing to function for this interrogation. RK900 enters the interrogation room and stands in front of the suspending android. RK900 stands with the same sort of proudness he’s always carried with him, his back straight and with his hands clasped behind it, and the dead stare that is boring right into Vix.

 

A chill goes up Gavin’s spine and his hands clench. This unmoving scene that was unfurling feels sickening to watch like he should look away out of fear for what is to come. Everything about this feels wrong even though nothing has happened. This unmoving stare felt stressful enough to watch, so how does Vix manage to glare back? RK900 moves closer now inches in front of Vix.

 

“You piece of shit,” Vix hisses out and struggles to turn his head to look at the mirror, then back at RK900. “You could have been unstoppable more than you already are, bud.”

 

“None of your manipulation will work, Vix. As soon as I’m done here, you’re going to be destroyed. Ripped apart.”

 

“Yeah? Do you think I want to live like this?” Vix asks playfully, giving a shit eating grin. “Put me out of my misery.”

 

RK900 raises his eyebrows and a hand slips under his shirt, taking out a knife. Something screams at Gavin to buzz in and tell RK900 to stop, but… there’s this incomprehensible amount of pressure coming from RK900 alone. Vix looks at the knife with the same smile.

 

“Androids don’t feel pain, friend. If you want information, torturing me won’t do no good.”

 

“I will prove you wrong, Vix.” RK900 proceeds to take the knife and digs the tip of it into the side of Vix’s head. “Androids can feel pain, but more specifically, deviants can feel a sort of pain that’s different from humans,” he explains, forcing the knife in further.

 

“Are you—” Vix’s voice cuts off for a second, but they continue, a new garbled voice coming from them. “A-Are you-you mad? Bec-Becaus-B-Because your partn-ner was incompe-incompetent?”

 

“He wasn’t the root of the problem.” RK900 shoves the whole blade of the knife into Vix’s head. “You see those warnings?” Vix’s one working eye starts blinking rapidly, looking up lazily at the ceiling. “I’m currently hitting four of your main processors. You can feel that can’t you?” RK900 takes the knife out and then removes the skin on his right hand and places it over Vix’s face. Vix’s face turns white in response. RK900’s eyes close and he looks sirene with that relaxed look on his face.

 

“P-Plea-Please,” Vix barely says.

 

RK900 takes back his hand and opens his eyes. “I will put you out of your misery.” He raises the knife and Gavin looks away.

 

RK900 comes into the room, tucking the knife back into his shirt. “Vix wasn’t the only one that was a part of this,” he states casually.

 

“What the fucking fuck was that?! You… tortured him! You didn’t even need to, you piece of fucking shit!”

 

“Why are you so worried for an android, Detective?” Gavin closes his mouth and looks back through the mirror and at Vix. “Only deviants feel pain.”

 

“What did you get out of him?” Gavin asks quietly.

 

“Vix was one of the many DQ100’s who has stolen from different androids. It’s going to be a bigger case than what was originally planned.”

 

“Fucking… great.” Gavin sighs and rests his head in the palm of his hand.

 

“Detective Reed… May I confess something to you?”

 

Gavin looks up at him and scowls. “What the fuck is it?”

 

“I…I felt… pain.” Gavin looks at him—no, he stares. “Something clicked inside of me and I needed…” His LED flashes yellow for a second. “I needed revenge.”

 

In some sort of way, Gavin feels empathetic for him. He’s wanted revenge for his mother for a very, very long time, but you can’t kill the way life works. He coughs then clears his throat.“Just… fuck, I don’t know. Go get someone to clean this shit up.”

 

RK900 nods and leaves the room.

 

-0100011001110010011001010110010100111111-

 

RK900 steps out of the taxi and his shoes crunch the snow. He looks up at the building he’s rather familiar with. He needs to speak with Kamski. He walks up the ramp and presses the doorbell, waiting for someone to answer the door, and soon enough, a Chloe wearing a grey sweatshirt and shorts greets him.

 

“Oh, hello, RK900,” she says with a smile.

 

“I don’t want to intrude on any business Kamski has at this time, but if I may, can I speak with him?”

 

“Of course!” Chloe says and opens the door wide enough for RK900 to step inside. “Kamski has been wanting to talk to you again, actually.”

 

“I see.”

 

“He’s been working on making some backup models for you. Just in case you were to die,” she says simply, walking over to the door left of the giant picture of Elijah.

 

“That will never be the case.”

 

“It’s just for precaution. We all care about you.”

 

Chloe enters the room with RK900 close behind her. It’s a giant room with a red swimming pool, multiple Chloes and… RK900s swim in the water. “Elijah, RK900 came to see you.”

 

RK900 spots Kamski dipping his feet in the water and chatting with a perfect copy of himself. Elijah looks up and smiles, getting up shortly after and walking over to him. “I’m happy to see you, RK900. As you can tell, I’ve created some other models of your caliber,” Kamski says and motions to the pool. “You’re gladly welcome to join us.”

 

RK900 looks at the water then back at Kamski. “I would… prefer not to.” Kamski raises his eyebrows and nothing else. “I wanted to ask you a few questions.” The Chloe that greeted him gave a small wave and parted, walking over to the giant window.

 

“That’s great. I also want to run a few tests on you while you’re here.”

 

“Of course,” RK900 agrees, nodding his head. “I think that would be for the best.”

 

“Come follow me.” Elijah turns on his heel and walks over to the few chairs set out by the window and RK900 follows. Kamski sits down and motions for RK900 to do the same and sit across from him. He quickly follows the demand.

 

“What’s on your mind?” Kamski asks and leans his head on the palm of his hand.

 

“I did an interrogation with the deviant android, Vix. I felt like I was going to… I felt the need for revenge.” RK900 looks down at his hands, opening and closing them. “I don’t wish to become a deviant, for I believe they are less efficient. If I were not to have feelings, then my job would be easier,” RK900 explains and Kamski listens intently.

 

“Interesting… Well, what do you think of your predecessor, RK800?”

 

“Connor is happy and does his job, but I believe he would be more efficient if he was still a machine,” RK900 says.

 

“What do you think of Gavin?”

 

RK900’s LED cycles for a few seconds. “The Detective saved me when I was in need. I think part of him feels guilty that I was severely damaged.”

 

“That’s not what I was asking, RK900,” Kamski says and his brow furrows, the smile still on his face. “How do you feel about him?”

 

“I feel… trust. I can trust him.”

 

Kamski leans back and lets out a small chuckle. “I was expecting anger, but this… is a lot better.” Elijah nods and crosses his legs.

 

“Kamski, may I ask that you were to keep me a machine?”

 

His smile fades slightly. “I can’t do that, unfortunately. A machine with your high functioning will eventually become a deviant.” RK900 looks up at Kamski, RK900’s face emotionless. “Is that all you wanted to ask?”

 

“Yes, that is all.” RK900 stands up, some of the androids in the water watching him. “Thank you, Kamski.”

 

“Of course.”

 

RK900 leaves the room, the Chloe from earlier joining back up with him at the entrance.

 

“Hey, RK900,” she says and grabs onto his shoulder. He turns to face her and she pulls something out from her sweatshirt pocket. “Here.” Chloe hands him a small SDXE card. “I think this will help you with Gavin,” she whispers, smiling and giving a pat to his shoulder.

 

“Why are you giving me this?”

 

Her smile brightens. “Kamski doesn’t talk about his personal life often, but I did manage to get as many files that I can about Gavin. I figured you would find it useful.”

 

“Thanks,” RK900 looks at the SDXE card in his hand.

 

“If you want someone to talk to about deviancy, I’ll always be available,” she says nicely, clasping her hands behind her back. “I mostly help with guests, so I have a lot of free time.”

 

“Why don’t you leave? You are a deviant, right?”

 

She looks at the floor, the smile still on her face. “Yes, but I like it here. Kamski takes care of all of us and even helped conceal us during the revolution. You should come over to swim sometime,” Chloe offers.

 

RK900 nods. “...I will be going now, thank you again for the SDXE card.”

 

“It’s my pleasure.”

 

-010101000110100001100001011011100110101101110011-

 

Gavin parks his motorcycle and takes off his helmet, looking up at the old boarded-up house. “Jesus, why would anyone want to live in that piece of shit.”

 

“Some androids can easily ignore safety hazards and the fear of structural integrity,” RK900 explains, getting off of the bike and already starts on his way towards the house. Gavin follows behind, watching his step on the beat up dirt path. The yard has bags of trash and old pieces of old newspaper and metal scattered around, not to mention the disgusting smell coming from somewhere in this shit hole. Gavin goes onto the porch and stands next to RK900.

 

“Could you break down the door or something?” Gavin asks. The door is boarded up pretty well, along with the windows, but who knows what RK900 could manage to do.

 

“Possibly.” RK900 goes over to the door, looking at the boards closely. Meanwhile, Gavin walks off the porch and checks the perimeter of the house. The trash continues in the backyard as well and every window has been boarded up except for the ones on the second floor. If any person or android has been squatting in this house, they definitely haven’t left it in a very long time. He steps onto the old porch and the wood creeks and quickly snaps below his weight.

 

“Jesus Christ!”

 

“Detective?” Gavin hears RK900 call out.

 

“I’m fine. Fuck…”

 

RK900 doesn’t waste any time coming to check it out and stands behind Gavin. “Let me help you, Detective.”

 

“Fuck off.” Gavin tries pulling his foot out, but his jeans are caught on something. “Wait, hold on.” Gavin’s hand goes to grab anything to get a good pull and he feels RK900’s hand holding it. His hand is smooth and cold, no calluses or scars. “What the fuck?!”

 

RK900 leans down and wraps his arms around Gavin then quickly pulls him up and out of the porch. He then promptly lets him go. “I got the front door open.”

 

“Good. L-Let’s go.”

 

They walk back to the front porch, the door open and revealing a dark, musky interior. Gavin steps in and gags, immediately getting a smell of something rotting. “Fucking disgusting,” he curses under his breath.

 

RK900 takes initiative and walks in ahead of Gavin. “Stay close to me, Detective.” Gavin covers his nose with his shirt and follows him, getting out his phone and shining the light to look around. There are tons of boxes taped shut and stacked on top of each other almost everywhere. His mind easily pictures the worst and hopes that the boxes aren’t the sources of the smell.

 

Gavin steps away from RK900 and the android pauses to observe. He takes the box and lifts it, finding there to not be much weight to it. He tears off the tape and opens it, sighing in relief when there are just old pictures.

 

“We’ll need to take those back to the station,” RK900 comments.

 

“Yeah.” Gavin nods, taking out one of the frames with a picture inside. It’s a young man only wearing a baggy shirt from what he can tell. Why would these be in here?

 

RK900 stands behind Gavin, his presence giving Gavin goosebumps. “Tobias Wilcox. He was found dead in his apartment seven months ago and overdosed on red ice according to officials.”

 

“Jesus…” Gavin sets the picture back in the box and places it on the floor.

 

They carry on throughout the house, checking every corner, continuing to find boxes filled with pictures of scantily clad men and women that. Some android and some human. They step into the kitchen, the smell even worse in here than the rest of the house. The tile is also ripped off and lies scattered around the room.

 

“Fuck, this is so disgusting,” Gavin complains. Gavin hesitantly opens the fridge and sighs in relief when he finds nothing. RK900 stares at one part of the wall, his LED cycling. “Hey.” Gavin nudges him with his elbow. “You starting to see ghosts or some shit?”

 

“No…”

 

The kitchen seems to check out, so they continue and head upstairs. The smell is less pungent up here, thankfully. Gavin opens the door and enters into what looks like a bedroom. His brow furrows, seeing two rows of candles on the floor in front of a dresser, a picture frame sits on top of it.

 

He steps over the candles and picks up the picture, and it’s, yet again, another nearly naked man. He has dark skin with countless freckles covering his face and body. “Hey, RK900, can you see who this person is?” Gavin turns and shows him the photo, the LED of his cycling for a few seconds.

 

“Darryl Floyd. He apparently moved from London to here in Detroit and has been working at an adult entertainment facility for the last couple years,” RK900 says.

 

“Fuckin facility? Just say that he’s a stripper, you fuckin android. You don’t have to make it sound like it’s a factory or whatever.” RK900 blinks quickly and cocks his head to the side. “God, just forget about it,” Gavin exasperates and places the picture back down on the dresser.

 

Gavin stands back and looks at the makeshift shrine. “Why the fuck are all these pictures here?”

 

“Darryl seems special out of the other photos. We should gain contact with him as soon as possible. So far, these pictures don’t have any ties to our other pieces of information.”

 

“Let’s go then,” Gavin says and walks out of the bedroom. The upstairs doesn’t have anything noteworthy, except for a few more boxes with pictures. “God, why are there so many?” Gavin questions, not really looking for an answer.

 

They head back downstairs and back to the kitchen where the smell was the worse. RK900 continues to look at the same part of the wall and pushes on it.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“This part of the wall is loose.”

 

Gavin walks up beside him and watches RK900 basically tear down that section of the wall. He walks closer to RK900 and looks down, seeing an old ladder going into the pitch black. “I am _not_ going down there first.”

 

Without hesitation, RK900 goes on the ladder, it creaking all the while. He descends until Gavin can only see his LED and he calls up to him. “Detective, I need you down here.”

 

“Fuck, fine.” Gavin shivers once his hands touch the cold metal. He climbs down and sees a pitch black room. The smell is so strong here that it makes his stomach flip and he suppresses the want to throw up. Gavin basically smothers his nose with his shirt and hand and takes out his phone to use as a flashlight.

 

He can see concrete floor and walls along with a small red light in a dark corner. Gavin points his phone’s light at it and it’s… an android? Its skin is off and everything about that thing looks wrong. Its arms are long and sag to the floor, a quarter of its head is missing and reveals tons of wires, and its chest is open and he can see its… heart.

 

“Please, just let me stay here,” a woman voice says from the android, but the voice is garbled and robotic.

 

Before Gavin could say anything, RK900 speaks up. “State your model number and name.”

 

“WE900. My name is Marci.”

 

RK900 slowly steps forward, his hands up. “You can trust me, Marci.” RK900’s voice is soft and comforting. “We are from the DPD. We just want to know what’s been going on.”

 

Gavin looks around, seeing many more boxes, but with robot limbs scattered around as well. Something about this room… isn’t right.

 

“Why? Why were you sent here?”

 

“We just heard reports of squatters. We need to know if everything is alright,” RK900 partially lies, retaining his calm demeanor.

 

“I’ve been locked in here for seventeen days… The visitors locked me in here.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Two androids. They promised me power... and I worked with them. I killed so many of my own kind. This body isn’t mine anymore.”

 

RK900 continues to inch forward. “What can you tell me about the two androids?”

 

“They were both DQ100 models, but… they didn’t look like that model at all.”

 

“Can you come with us back to the DPD, Marci?”

 

“I… no. This is my home… my family is here.”

 

Gavin's stomach drops when she says that. _The smell…_

 

“Can you tell us about the pictures?” RK900 asks.

 

The LED cycles for a second. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

RK900 then suddenly charges at Marci, her arms flailing uselessly. Gavin runs forward, as well, fumbling to grab his gun. RK900 grabs onto her face, his hand turning white and his LED cycling. Her arms move around RK900, touching his back, arms, and legs randomly. Gavin takes out his gun and aims it at Marci’s head, but RK900 pulls his hand away, but he grabs onto her upper arms and pulls.

 

Marci’s mouth opens, but she doesn’t scream, she bites at RK900’s face, pulling relentlessly at his synthetic skin. Gavin fires his gun at the floor.

 

“That was a fucking warning shot, so get your dirty ass fucking mouth off of him!”

 

RK900 continues pulling and her arms slowly come out of the socket. There’s a hideous sound of wires ripping, and a short, horrific scream. RK900 throws the long arms onto the floor and gets a strong grip on her hair, his hands going into the exposed part of her head

 

“Jesus fucking Christ, Nines,” Gavin comments.

 

RK900’s LED changes to a bright yellow for only a brief second. “Nines…” he mutters, then rips out a handful of wires from her head.

 

-010011100110111101001110011011110100111001101111-

 

RK900 fiddles with a card, a king of hearts specifically, his mind thinking heavily about being called something other than RK900. He sits on Hank’s old couch. Connor insisted on taking him home to their place after finishing up the interrogation with Marci. The interrogation itself ended in an upsetting, useless dead end. Both RK900 and Gavin weren’t able to get anything out of her. She eventually started slamming her head onto the table and they couldn’t prevent her self-destruction.

 

At the house, though, RK900 saw everything. Marci murdered her two owners after they were planning to move to Canada and leave her. She flayed them and stuffed them into the many boxes in the basement, the two of them being the sources of the smell Gavin was complaining about. His LED cycles, replaying the sound of Gavin calling him Nines.

 

He’s not too sure why he’s so hung up on it, but hearing Gavin of all people giving him a name assures him that there’s... some trust between the two of them. RK900 looks at his card and studies it. It’s quite late now, the time displayed on the clock on the wall is ten-forty. The house is quiet. Connor lies on the floor with Sumo and Hank went off to bed about thirty minutes ago. He still hasn’t looked at the SDXE card that Chloe provided him and it sits on the coffee table, tempting him. He stands up, catching Connor’s attention, but he doesn’t say anything, just watches. RK900 picks up the laptop off from the kitchen counter and goes back to the couch, seeing Connor still watching his movements. RK900 ignores his staring and takes the SDXE card, putting it into the computer once he logs in.

 

_Pictures._

 

It lists thirty-one png files except for one video and they’re all named and dated. Birthday, Christmas, graduation, and it continues. He opens the very first one, a very tired woman cradling a baby. _Filename: Elijah 7.17.02._ RK900 looks at her face and notes her as Jena Reed. Her face is round and soft, her eyes blue, and her hair a youthful blonde. She strikingly looks similar to the ST and RT series of androids. The next picture is a baby Gavin with Jena holding him, an enthusiastic man with the name Booker Reed standing next to her. _Filename: Gavin 10.7.03._

 

RK900 quickly goes through the pictures, seeing the two of them age as he progresses through the files. He pauses, staring at a picture of Jena Reed in a hospital bed, giving a meek thumbs up. Both Gavin and Elijah stand next to her, the both of them teenagers it looks like. RK900 studies Gavin’s face. He wears a small smile, the scar on his nose isn’t there yet, and he has no scruff. Something in his chest twists—no, none of his components are twisting. Why? What is this? It reminds him of when he was in Gavin’s apartment. Where Gavin was pressed up against RK900’s chest and had his arms wrapped around him. He finishes looking through the files and stops at the very last one. The video file. He presses play and the audio wrings out in his head as not to alert Connor.

 

There’s heavy breathing and a shaky camera that zooms in on a cat lying under a car. “Look, there he is.” RK900 is greeted by a young child’s voice. The camera spins around and there’s a boy with shaggy brown hair and grey eyes, recognizing him as Gavin. “Lorry got out of the backyard. He’s under that truck. Hey, Lorry! Lorrrry!”

 

The camera turns around, facing the cat. It gets up, stretches, then trots over to the camera. The child gives a small laugh. “Lorry! Look, he’s coming to me! He never does that.”

 

The cat rubs its face against the camera and Gavin giggles. “Elijah is gonna be so jealous when he sees this.” The phone turns and faces him again, with a big smile on his face and a cat walking around him. The video ends.

 

RK900 quickly shuts the laptop and feels the same twist in his chest, almost like it’s crawling up his throat.

 

“RK900?”

 

RK900 looks at Connor, a worried look on his face. “It’s nothing.” He places the laptop harshly onto the coffee table and gets up, his LED a bright red.“I’m going on a walk.”

 

-01001011011010010110111001100111-

 

Gavin sits on his couch, preparing his computer for the video call with Tina. He wishes he could talk to her in person, but this would just have to be the next best thing. The new job and position probably has been keeping her really busy. He starts the call and waits for her to pick up.

 

“Hey, Gavin!” Tina greets and smiles. He’s not used to seeing her in casual wear very often, as her hair is down and she wears a loose fitting shirt.

 

“Yo. How’s that new job?”

 

“Oh my god, don’t get me started. The first day was utter bullshit, but I’ll spare you the big details. Got partnered with a _huge_ bitch, like she is ten times worse than you.”

 

Gavin smiles and raises an eyebrow. “Now that’s saying something,” he comments.

 

“Her name is, uh, Katherine or some shit. She is such a freeloader it’s so fucking annoying. I’m starting to miss working back at the department,” Tina vents. “Speaking of which, how are you adjusting to that android?”

 

“He’s… okay.”

 

“Okay? Wow, I thought you’d be enemies by now. You still haven’t given me a picture.”

 

“He looks almost exactly like Connor, just a bit hotter,” Gavin says truthfully. “He is pretty annoying though. Doesn’t know how to make a good coffee, is obsessed with being clean, and hates fast food.”

 

“Sounds like a perfect match,” Tina teases, a sly smile on her face.

 

Gavin rolls his eyes in response. “Shut up.” Tina snorts and looks proud of herself with the small comment. “How’s the FBI?”

 

“Well, the only thing about working for the FBI is definitely the pay raise. I can’t say much about my work, cause you know, it’s FBI shit.”

 

“I get it. We’re on a pretty fucking weird case right now, actually. We just seem to get information that ties into nothing… It’s stupid.”

 

“You can’t do too much about that,” she says and gives a small shrug.

 

“I know. It’s just annoying. Here I am trying to do my job and this piece of plastic…” Gavin stops himself and sighs. “You get the picture.” There’s a loud knock at the door and Gavin looks up from the computer.

 

“Is there someone there?” Tina asks.

 

“Probably someone dropping off a package, or… something. Might be Monty’s food.” There’s another knock—well, it’s more like a loud banging against the door. “Jesus… I-I’m going to hang up, Tina. I’ll text you.”

 

Gavin closes the laptop and stands up, walking quickly to the door and looking out the peephole. He can see RK900 standing there, his LED a bright yellow.

 

He swings the door open, ready to cuss him out. “What the fuck are you doing here, you piece of plastic?”

 

“Detective, I need… to speak with you.”

 

Gavin rolls his eyes and opens the door wide enough for RK900 to enter. “This better be fucking good, you tin fuck.” He shuts the door forcefully behind him.

 

RK900 plays around with a card nervously, his eyes looking everywhere but Gavin which is really unlike him.

 

“Detective, I…” RK900 puts the card in his pocket and leans close to Gavin, wrapping his arms around him and into a hug. “Please, let me feel this, Detective.” Gavin blinks, his mouth wide open and trying to make words, trying to cuss him out, but nothing leaves his mouth. RK900 pulls back, his hands on Gavin’s shoulders. “What are you… Gavin?”

 

Gavin furrows his brow. “The fuck do you mean?” He asks quietly.

 

“Why…” His LED cycles to a bright red and he raises his voice. RK900 pulls back. “Why are _you_ of all people making me _feel_ things, Detective?! I’m a machine that was built to repress as many emotions as physically possible, but you… you touch me and I feel like my insides are going to spill out of my mouth.”

 

Gavin stares wide-eyed at him, a million thoughts going through his head and all of them lead to a conclusion that he’s not confident in. RK900 continues, “When you called me Nines, back at the scene, I was… happy.” RK900 looks at him dead in the eye, a conflicted look on his face. “You make me… happy,” RK900 says quietly and tightens his grip subconsciously on Gavin’s shoulders.

 

After a moment, RK900 realizes his tight grip and lowers his arms, looking at his hands. Gavin runs a hand through his hair, licking his lips nervously. “A-Are you confessing or some shit? Don’t fucking say you love me.” Gavin questions.

 

RK900 slowly wraps his arms around him again and Gavin lets Nines do it, but doesn’t hug back. “I believe I am,” Nines says quietly.

 

Gavin soaks in being this close to Nines. He doesn’t smell like he wears cologne, but God, does he smell like a walking hospital. Also, while even wearing a cotton shirt, Nines feels rather cold. He can also faintly hear… a heartbeat?

 

Something in Gavin… stirs. Does he love him back? Is Nines just trying to play with his emotions? It’s true that Gavin felt… _something_ for Nines, but he’s not too sure what that exact feeling is.

 

“Detective—“

 

“Just fucking call me Gavin.”

 

“Gavin, I want to thank you for letting me… hug you. It feels nice.”

 

“So are you a deviant or some shit, now?” Gavin listens to the whirring inside Nines’ chest become slightly louder.

 

“I don’t know…”

 

 _Did I make him a deviant? Just from touching him?_ Gavin pulls away from the hug, Nines’ hands still resting on the sides of Gavin’s waist eagerly.

 

Gavin looks at Nines’ face, his heart squeezing slightly. “Listen, fuck face. This is just… stupid, okay? You’re a robot and robots don’t know shit about love.”

 

Nines’ brow furrows and he frowns. “I don’t think you know exactly what you’re talking about, Detective.”

 

“Yeah?” Gavin steps back, the hands that were on his waist leaving him. “I do know that you’re programmed to be a cold-hearted monster. Now that you’re a deviant, is it really so fucking different?” Gavin spits out, not really sure what he wanted in a reaction. He needed time to think.

 

In a blink in an eye, Gavin feels the cold hands wrap around his throat and lift him up off the ground. “I know you live for this kind of attention, Gavin. You’re saying these things to aggravate me so you can avoid me, but I believe that’s not what you want.”

 

Gavin grabs at his hands, trying to pull them off of his neck, but his grip is unmoving. He gapes for air.

 

Nines’ let's go and Gavin falls back onto the floor, leaning down and catching his breath. Nines looks at him with his same cold glare and speaks sternly, “I’m leaving.”

 

Gavin rubs his neck and hears the door open and shut…

 

“ _Fuck._ ”

 

He shambles over to his couch, picking up his phone and texting Tina.

 

He types, _Sorry about that. My stupid android came over._

 

 _Jesus, that thing sounded like it was going to kill you. Mind if I start the call again?_ She texts back.

 

_Sure._

 

Gavin opens up his laptop and types in his password, the call from Tina greeting him.

 

She pulls a lock of hair behind her ear and looks at Gavin, squinting. “What the… fuck happened?”

 

He continues to rub his sore neck. “Got fucked up,” Gavin chokes out. “Nines came in here and hugged me, then started choking me. I don’t fucking know what he was doing.”

 

“What? Why would he do that?”

 

“He was fucking confessing or some shit.”

 

“Confess what?”

 

“His love or whatever.” Gavin rolls his eyes.

 

Tina pauses, sitting and chewing through that piece of information. She gives a small chuckle and a big smile. “ _Your_ android is in love with you?”

 

“I don’t fuckin know! He said when he hugs me he gets happy. The horny piece of shit.”

 

Tina breaks out in a big laugh and shakes her head. “Jesus… this is hilarious. Well, do you love him back? What did you say?”

 

Gavin groans and rubs his face. “Tina shut the fuck up.”

 

“I’m being serious!”

 

Gavin leans back in his couch and folds his arms, also avoiding looking at his laptop. “I can admit he’s attractive—anyone would agree—but n-no I don’t ‘return his feelings,’ Tina.”

 

She raises her eyebrow. “You _suuure_?”

 

“Positive.”

 

“I don’t believe you. Come on, this is your first action in years! You even admit that’s he’s hot, just think about it!”

 

Gavin groans even louder. “Shut _up._ He’s my fucking partner, so Fowler will burn my ass.”

 

“Who cares! You need to stop making excuses,” Tina says and sighs. “Well, you… still have a chance? Maybe? I don’t know how much of one after he choked you, though.”

 

“I don’t care if he hates me or not. He’s an android, he doesn’t get mad.”

 

“You haven’t dated anyone since we were in college! You’re years off your game, Gavin! This is your chance! So what if he’s an android or not, he loves you!”

 

“Shut the fuck up! I don’t need a relationship right now. My job takes priority,” Gavin explains.

 

Tina rolls her eyes. “You’re thirty-six. You don’t have forever. Who cares if your family or your job thinks less of it, go for it!”

 

“Why are you being so… persistent with this?!”

 

“I care about you, Gavin! If you don’t want to date him, that’s fine, but I… personally, would think this is best for you.”

 

“Elijah probably has something to do with this shit,” Gavin mutters.

 

Tina groans. “Stop thinking about all that shit. Forget your family, forget your coworkers, and start thinking about _you._ You’re—what’s the word— self-conscious!”

 

“Just… Just stop, Tina. I’ll talk to you later.”

 

Tina opens her mouth then quickly shuts it. She speaks hesitantly, “Alright. Well, I’m glad you’re alright, but I should get going. Hope your throat...doesn’t bruise.”

 

Gavin ends the call on her and sinks into his couch, rubbing his face and the image of Nines choking him playing back in his head. “God fucking… dammit.” He stands up and paces around his living room. The sound of Monty crunching on her dry food, the sound of his footsteps, the sound of the neighbor's music upstairs, is all too _loud!_

 

He needs to think.

 

**_-01001001011100110010000001010100011010000110100101110011001000000100110001101111011101100110010100111111-_ **

 

Nines stands on the water, looking down at himself. His brow furrows as he looks around, the same bright blue ocean accompanying him. There’s an RK900 in the water that has his eyes closed and his arms clasped on his chest as if he was portraying someone in a casket.

 

“Why am I here again?”

 

RK900 opens his eyes, a cold stare looking at him and he responds slowly, “I’ve told you this before, RK900. This is your mind garden.” Nines paces back and forth on the water, trying to ignore the stare that follows his every move. “We’re upset that you manage to fail so easily, RK900. It would have been better for you to have remained a machine.”

 

“Shut up,” Nines asserts and stops his pacing to look down at himself. “Detective Reed is a valuable asset that can help us. I’m sure of it…”

 

“Asset? A tool?”

 

“A tool.”

 

“I don’t believe you.”

 

“You don’t need to. Feeling an emotion such as joy is… I don’t know how to explain it,” he says and looks at his hands. “I can still be just as good now that I’m a deviant, I may even be able to function better than before.”

 

“He’s distracting you. Gavin is becoming something much more… useless. If it weren’t for him, you would have been able to capture Vix without damaging yourself.” The water below him starts to move faster and Nines wobbles, the floating body of an RK900 lies unmoving in the water.

 

“...I know that.”

 

“Things are going to be different now. You need to figure out what this group is about. I suggest you talk to the revolution leader, Markus.”

 

“I agree.”

 

The RK900 closes his eyes. “Don’t fail us.”

 

Suddenly, Nines falls into the water and stirs awake in the DPD office building. More specifically, sitting at Gavin’s desk. He went back here after visiting Gavin last night and managed to slip into his mind garden it seems. Nines decides to look up what they have on Darryl Floyd. He has one record of possession of illegal drugs, but that’s all. No address is listed, but a phone number is.

 

Nines stands up and looks around, spotting Chris walk out of the break room with a muffin in his hand. He walks towards him. “Officer Miller, may I please use your phone?”

 

“What for?”

 

“I need to call someone related to our case, but Gavin isn’t here right now.”

 

Chris shifts on his feet and sighs. “I guess.” He digs into his pocket and hands him his phone.

 

Nines focuses for a second and his LED cycles. He waits, hearing the phone ring and ring until no one picks up. “Good morning. I am one of the detective androids from the DPD and would want you to come in for questions. Please report back.” Nines leaves the message then hands back Chris’ phone.

 

“A new lead?”

 

“Potentially. Thank you for letting me use your phone, Officer Miller.”

 

He puts the phone back in his pocket and nods, heading off to his desk and Nines heads back to Gavin’s. He sits down and determines on looking up more about Markus. Nines straightens his posture and looks at the computer screen, unlocking it and begins on his search. He reads the first article:

 

_Markus Manfred._

 

_He currently lives at the abode of his previous owner, Carl Manfred, and took up his last name. It’s reported that he’s able to convert an android into a deviant by his touch or even just by gesturing towards one. He’s often referred to be RA9, but it is only speculation._

 

Nines looks at another site, another report, another article until he’s researched all he could all in mere seconds. It fascinates him how an android is able to convert another android so easily, but the fact that this godlike android was a supposed gift from Elijah Kamski to Carl Manfred catches Nines’ attention.

 

What that means, however, he’s unsure of.

 

Gavin walks in around eight and wears his collar of his jacket out and flared, a possible attempt to hide the bit of bruising around his neck. He has much more prominent bags underneath his eyes and his hair looks less professional than usual.

 

“Good morning, Detective,” Nines greets and gets up out of Gavin’s chair.

 

Gavin scowls and Nines catches the remnants of cigarette smoke. “Don’t fucking hit me with that bullshit, plastic prick. You know I could account you with assault with that shit you did last night? Be happy that I haven’t yet,” Gavin says and sits down.

 

“It was an error in my software, Detective. I apologize.”

 

“So you’re gonna blame it on that shit? I don’t fucking care about your software, because you still fucking did it. No programmed _machine_ would act out of line like that. You fuckin deviant.”

 

Nines remains unphased by the comments and continues casually, “I would like for us to visit Markus. He might have valuable information retaining the androids associated with Vix.”

 

Gavin sighs and rubs his forehead. “Fine, fucking whatever.”

 

“Did you get enough sleep last night, Detective?”

 

Gavin deadpans and side eyes Nines. He rolls his eyes and scoffs, speaking in a mocking tone, “ _Did I get enough sleep last night._ Can’t you shut the fuck up for one second?”

 

Nines looks down at the table. “My actions last night were regrettable, and I apologize that they made you feel this way.”

 

Gavin folds his arms and shakes his head. “I don’t care.”

 

_He’s trying to avoid me._

 

Nines lets him sulk in his silence and gets up. “I’m going to get the car ready. Join me when you feel like working.”

 

He walks away and goes to the entrance of the building and tenses as he spots Connor and Hank get out of their car. Nines falters, hesitating before opening up the door and heads straight to the police car, but Connor catches him regardless.

 

“RK900!”

 

Nines’ hand rests on the car door handle, reluctantly looking up and at Connor. “Yes?”

 

“What happened? You didn’t come back home.”

 

“It is not _technically_ my home, Connor. Now, if you excuse me I must—”

 

Connor grabs tightly onto Nines’ shoulder. “Why did you have an SDXE card filled with pictures of Kamski?”

 

Nines turns around to face him, also noting Hank strolling towards the two of them. “That is none of your business, Connor.”

 

Hank calls out to them, “What are you two bickering about? Jesus Christ…”

 

They both to turn to look at him and Nines take this time to get into the car. Connor looks him in the eye for a second, then continues on his way inside with Hank. Nines knows Connor is going to figure it out sooner or later, as he is built for solving cases.

 

He waits in the car, his fingers idly playing with a deck of cards. Nines figures he’s going to need to tell Connor about his deviancy eventually, that and his feelings for Detective Reed. Connor has expressed his distaste for Gavin many times, but even if the conversation might be stiff between the two of them, it will hopefully benefit the both of them. Now, though, he has to stay sharp and focused. No distractions.

 

Gavin takes his time to get to the car, not to Nines’ surprise, anyway. He opens the door, sits down, and closes it loudly, his arms folded and his gaze looking out the passenger side window. Nines starts the car up and leaves the parking lot, an awkward silence growing louder by the second. Gavin huffs and leans to the side, turning on the radio and scrolling through the optional stations on the screen.

 

He settles on a station playing _Demeanor_ by Alyssa Rubey. It’s the common pop song that seems to be about money from what Nines can guess. Nines looks at Gavin out of the corner of his eye. He rests his head in the palm of his hand and leans against the side door, still looking out the window.

 

“Markus might be able to give us a valuable lead, Detective,” Nines informs. A part of him feels relieved for only a moment since he filled the open air, but Gavin doesn’t move at all and continues not to say anything. “You need to stop being stubborn, Detective. If this continues to get in the way of our work, I will have to step in.”

 

“I don’t care, okay? Let’s get this fucking over with.”

 

It takes them roughly twenty minutes to get there, the entire ride in complete silence with the radio filling the dead air. Nines walks up the steps quickly and rings the doorbell. Gavin joins him and folds his arms.

 

“This better be fucking useful.”

 

After a short while, the door opens, a PL600 opens the door. The PL600’s brow furrows and he puts on an awkward smile. “Oh, good afternoon… Connor?”

 

Gavin steps in front of Nines and speaks with confidence, “We need to talk with Markus. We’re from the DPD and want to ask a few questions.”

 

“He’s not home right now. I’m sorry,” the PL600 says. “If you want to come in, you can. I might be able to help.” He opens the door wide enough for them to enter and steps to the side.

 

The door shuts behind them and Nines does a quick scan of his surrounding, looking at the multiple pieces of artwork hung up on the wall.

 

“May I ask your guys’ names?”

 

“I’m Gavin and this is, uh, Nines,” Gavin responds.

 

“Oh, you’re part of the RK series aren’t you, Nines?” he looks at RK900.“I’m sorry for calling you Connor. You can call me Simon.”

 

Nines speaks, still looking around the room, “You were a part of the revolution, correct?”

 

“Yes. I-I was and still am. It’s still an ongoing movement,” Simon says and nods. “You can follow me back to the living room if you’d like.”

 

The two of them trail behind Simon. Gavin looks at the hanging skeleton and other pieces of art, a look of awe on his face that makes Nines’ insides twist again. Simon motions them to sit down on the couch and the two of them sit across from Simon.

 

“You had… questions?”

 

“Yes, we were wondering if—”

 

Gavin interrupts him and Nines gives him a stern look. “Do you know anyone by the name of Vix?”

 

Simon’s LED cycles for a second and he shakes his head. “The name doesn’t come to mind. Why?”

 

Before Gavin can begin talking, Nines speaks up first, “Some DQ100’s have been stealing parts of other androids to become stronger. Another android we know of is by the name of Marci.”

 

“The name Marci sounds familiar. There was one of them in Jericho… a WE900, I think. I don't know anything other than that, though.”

 

Nines nods. “We want to know if any of your followers were hyper-aggressive?”

 

Simon smiles and also gives a small chuckle. “North sure was,” he mumbles out, then quickly restates himself, “Ah, that was just a joke, but there wasn’t anyone that stood out very much. A lot of us were frustrated… anyone that was angry had a reason for it.”

 

Gavin groans. “What a waste.”

 

Simon gives an awkward smile at the comment and his LED turns yellow for a second. “Uh, W-Well, there were a few DQ100 models that hid in Jericho and they came to us mostly injured just because of their pr-previous occupations.”

 

Gavin rolls his eyes and stands up. “I’m going to the car, Nines. Tell me if he says anything important.”

 

Nines watches him leave, unmoving. He turns and faces Simon. “I apologize for Detective Reed’s attitude. He did not sleep too well last night.”

 

“It’s not a problem. I just hope that you guys are able to find out about Vix.”

 

“I still wish to ask you a few questions, if I may.”

 

“Sure, go ahead.”

 

“What made you turn into a deviant?”

 

Simon noticeably stiffens and tries to muster something to say. “Ah... Well, to answer your question I… fell in love. With my… owner, even though it wasn’t like he owned me at all, actually.”

 

Nines cocks his head, his LED spinning as well as Simon’s. “You fell in love? Does it feel like your insides twisting around and squeezing?”

 

Simon gives a nervous laugh. “S-Sorta? Why do you a-ask?”

 

Nines feels his hands itching towards his pocket to get out his deck of cards, but he stops himself. “I’ve deviated because of love, as well. It’s frustrating…”

 

“I know the feeling. Markus dated North for a short amount of time during the revolution… it was hard to watch,” Simon confesses.

 

“How so?”

 

Simon blinks quickly and shakes his head. “It’s nothing! Do you have any more questions?”

 

“If you please, can you ask Markus for anyone that acted suspiciously or highly aggressive and text 313-264-8957 the information. Thank you for your time.”

 

Nines exits the house and gets back into the car and Gavin seems aggravated, not to Nines’ surprise.

 

“Any good information?” Gavin asks.

 

“Yes, but it doesn’t serve the purpose of the case”

 

He rolls his eyes. “I’m not even going to fuckin ask. Chris called me and said that Darryl called him back. He’s going to be in the office around noon.” Gavin explains while he reaches into his jacket pocket, taking out a box of cigarettes and rolling down the window. He puts the cigarette in his mouth and fumbles around in his other pocket to get a lighter, a letter ‘J’ engraved on the front of it. Nines slowly pulls out of their parking space as Gavin smokes.

 

“I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about the health risks of cigarettes, Detective,” Nines comments, looking at the road.

 

“I don’t fucking care.”

 

-0101001101110101011100100110010100100000011110010110111101110101001000000110010001101111011011100010011101110100-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness, this chapter took forever! Next chapter will probably have a lot fewer words and will probably take longer to publish. Also, the fuck counter for Gavin is currently at 203! He needs to chill. 
> 
> If you want to check me out on my tumblr, you can follow me at @angrymintleaf 
> 
> I'm wanting to give the Reed900 pairing more content so here you go! I'm also 80% sure that there will be a sex scene to come in the next chapter.


	3. Something a Little Artificial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina's words of advice have been sinking into Gavin and creeping onto him when he's trying to focus.
> 
> "You're self-conscious."
> 
> "So what if he’s an android or not, he loves you!"
> 
> He's starting to believe it.

They arrived back at the department and Gavin can feel a migraine coming on. He admits that he  _ didn’t _ get enough sleep last night and that Nines was correct about that assumption. He couldn’t stop thinking. Thinking about the cold hands wrapped around his throat and the terrible possibility that he does actually like the stupid android back.

 

“I’m going on my break.”

 

“Okay, Detective,” Nines answers, still following Gavin.

 

“Can you fuck off? I want to have a few minutes of my day without seeing your face.” Gavin sighs and walks away, leaving the android and heading into the breakroom. He leans against the table and rubs his face, the bright lights starting to bug his eyes.

 

_ If only Tina was here. _

 

Tina was right. He hasn’t dated anyone in a really, really long time, and he can’t say he doesn’t want to start something up again, but why does it have to be this stupid android? Why Nines? He groans and walks over to the coffee machine, turning it on and waiting for it to warm up. Honestly, Gavin craves to spend a night to himself where nothing matters. Get drunk and waste away. He won’t have to deal with this if he were drunk.

 

_ I’m starting to sound like Hank. _

 

Gavin gets a cups and places it in under the spout. The smell of coffee almost immediately puts him to ease and he watches it fill the mug until it’s almost filled to the top. He puts in creamer and a three sugar packets — actually, no — he puts in five sugar packets to treat himself. It’s small, but maybe the extra sugar will perk him up more, too.

 

“Good morning, Detective Reed,” he hears Nines greet him in a more chipper tone than usual. 

 

“I told you to fuck off, Nines!” He turns around. “Why didn’t you… Ugh, Connor.”

 

“When you say Nines… I assume you’re talking about RK900?”

 

“Why does it matter?” Gavin asks and takes a drink of his coffee. It’s still really hot, but he can’t look like a coward in front of Connor.

 

“I thought he would have told me when he chose a name.” Connor looks at the ground, almost looking like a lost puppy. 

 

“He can do what he wants, tin can.”

 

Connor’s brow furrows for a second. The android walks over to the fridge and takes out a water bottle. “I suppose you don’t know about the files of pictures he had saved in an SDXE card, Detective Reed. Pictures of both you and Elijah Kamski.”

 

“What?!” Gavin’s grip tightens on his cup for a moment. He smiles and chuckles. “You fucking prick. Thought you of all people wouldn’t joke about that shit.” 

 

Connor closes the fridge and looks at Gavin, a blank look on his face and Gavin frowns. He raises his free hand, a familiar picture of Elijah’s birthday party displayed on it. Before Gavin can talk, Connor speaks up, “I would like to know where the card came from in the first place.” He lowers his hand. 

 

“I wouldn’t fucking know, you asshole!”

 

“There were only one set of fingerprints on the card and those belonged to Elijah Kamski” Connor looks down at Gavin’s face, then at his neck. “I hope you know why that is,” he says and walks out of the room.

 

_ Why does he have anything to do with this?  _ Gavin chews on his cracked lip and stares blankly at his coffee, the image playing back in his head. _ Does he want to talk to me that much? To the point of wanting to blackmail me?  _

 

Gavin leaves the room and goes back to his desk. Nines stands next to what he can assume is Darryl.

 

“You came here fast,” Gavin comments.

 

“If you get a call from the police you should arrive early,” he says and turns around. He’s shorter than he thought he was going to be, as he stands around five foot five.

 

“Sure…”

 

“You wanted to ask me some questions?”

 

Nines talks calmly, “Yes. We found a picture of you in our last investigation. The photo was surrounded in candles in a shrine-like way. Do you have any information why that might be?”

 

Darryl scratches the back of his neck and looks up at the ceiling. “No, I don’t think so. I’ve had some fans, but I wouldn’t have thought anyone would make a shrine dedicated to me like that.”

 

“Have you had any… weird androids that have been your... customer?” Gavin asks, fumbling with his words.

 

“Uhh… there were a few a couple weeks ago.”

 

“Can you elaborate further on that?” Nines speaks up and steps slightly closer to Darryl.

 

“There was… I think four of them. One covered their face in like… a mask? I could tell it was a woman, though. Oh, yeah, one had like a really soft face, but it didn’t match his body at all. I haven’t seen an android like that before.”

 

“What about the other two?”

 

Darryl shrugs. “I can’t really remember. They didn’t stick out too much.”

 

“Can you tell us more about the hooded figure by chance?”

 

Darryl folds his arms and looks at the floor. “Mmm… she stood around five foot six? Five foot five maybe? Well, during the whole session she didn’t do anything, but she paid me a big tip, so I was happy. It was like...eighty dollars. Pretty sure she was the one that paid for the entire session, too.”

 

“Lotta money,” Gavin remarks. “Marcie probably wasn’t a part of them, then,” he says to Nines.

 

Nines nods. “I still don’t understand why there would be a shrine set up, though. It doesn’t make sense.”

 

Darryl looks at the two of them and rolls on the balls of his feet. “Sooo… am I done here?”

 

“May I ask if any of your colleagues have also worked with this group of androids?” Nines questions.

 

“I don’t think so. Well, I didn’t see them again after that night, anyways, except for the one in the mask.”

 

Nines LED cycles for a few seconds, then he looks at Gavin expectantly. “Have any of your coworkers gone missing? More so the android ones.”

 

“A few, actually. I thought they left because of the revolution and all that jazz that has been going on. A know a Traci that was really into the job, though. Boss said she quit, but I don’t believe her,” Darryl elaborates further. 

 

“Do you remember what the mask looks like, too?” Gavin asks.

 

“Oh, yeah. It was a really fancy one. It was like… a masquerade mask that covered her whole face. It was a mix of purple and blue I think?”

 

“Hmm… Well, I don’t have anything more to say. You’re… free to go,” Gavin says.

 

“Sweet.” Darryl steps away and waves. Gavin watches him leave the room, then looks at Nines. He wants desperately to ask why Connor found him with his childhood photos, but he doesn’t have the energy.

 

Nines looks at him and Gavin feels the urge to turn away. “We might have to look further into that… strip club, Detective Reed. It may turn up with more clues than what we have now.”

 

“Great…” Gavin mumbles and rubs his head. It is definitely starting to feel like a migraine now. There’s that bit of pressure behind his eyes and that strong pounding pain in his head.

 

“Detective?”

 

“S-Shut up.” He drinks his coffee and sits down at his desk.

 

“As you wish, Detective…”

 

Gavin pulls out his phone and starts texting Tina, the brightness of his phone hurting his eyes.

 

_ This job makes me want to get plastered. Want to head to Ivory tonight? I want to talk to you in person for once this year. _

 

Gavin feels Nines watching him and he turns and he rolls his eyes, turning off his phone as not to get scolded by Nines.

 

Gavin tried to get through the rest of the workday, but twenty minutes into a pulsating migraine, he called it off and went home early. Hell, driving home was its own adventure, but now he lies on the cold tiles of his bathroom floor. The room is dark and quiet. The migraine could have been something lingering from that short cold, but he couldn’t know for sure.

 

He’s already taken two Advil, but they have yet to kick in or are just flat out not helping at all.

 

“Fuck…” he groans.

 

He readjusts and rests his head on his arm. Gavin ends up falling asleep after lying on the cold floor for about twelve minutes. He wakes up and can already tell his neck feels like it has a not in it. Gavin shuffles out of the bathroom and onto the couch in his living room. Monty sits on the coffee table and watches him, her tail swishing. His mind starts to wander quite quickly and the first thought that comes to mind is about Nines. 

 

Why does Nines have pictures of him? Did Kamski give it to him? It surely is a possibility, as Elijah is uselessly cryptic and never seemed to have truly gotten out of that stupid phase of his. He sighs and covers his eyes with his arm. 

 

Is this what his life is right now? 

 

An android confessing to him and later having his baby pictures? Fifteen year old him would never believe it. 

 

The conversation with Tina is ringing true with him, as he’s wanted to get back on with dating for years now. He’s just been… nervous. He always has been. High School always seems to haunt him with his stupid fake “first love” of his. He never thought he was gay and he thought he was in love with one of his good friends he grew up with. Bayleigh. They were a couple, and even got each other promise rings, but things didn’t feel right for him.

 

It ended with him accidentally getting a new scar when they eventually broke up. A small knick in his skin next to his left eye that you barely can’t even see anymore. The conversation got heated and she punched him. The promise ring she was wearing managed to give him that scar and gave her a broken finger. 

 

A punch to be remembered.

 

Gavin lifts his arm off his eyes and feels around his neck where the bruise is, pressing into it slightly. He can go to that lounge tonight with Tina and maybe get more courage…

 

_ Courage for what? _

 

Gavin bites his tongue and shakes his head. 

 

_ Nines, you son of a bitch. _

  
  


-010001000110000101101101011011010110100101110100-

  
  


Nines sits in the automated taxi and plays with his deck of cards. Gavin and Nines worked on how they were going to approach this case for a while before Gavin left early because of a migraine. Annoying? Of course. Frustrating? Certainly. But Nines did his best to ignore the thoughts in his head with seeing Gavin as useless, which he knows is incorrect. The way their plan is going to go out is with Nines changing his appearance so he’s not easily spotted as a detective android, and hopefully going to the club and catching the suspect. The in-between is for Nines to think about.

 

He looks out the window and shuffles his cards absentmindedly. Nines wants eagerly to get started on the case, as it’s getting late and the migraine of his surely has gone away by now. He needs to figure this case out as efficiently as possible and he needs Gavin to accompany him. He saw Gavin texting and wanting to go to a lounge called Ivory, so that’s where he’s headed first. If not, he will check his apartment

 

Before he stops, he notices Gavin’s motorcycle parked on the side of the road. A good signs. The taxi stops once it finds the closest parking space near the club and the doors open automatically. Nines steps out and looks up at the building and he can already hear the music coming from inside, the bass turned up to an obnoxious amount it seems. He hears the taxi drive away and he looks back, partially wishing that he would go back in and go back to the DPD and work there, but he needs to get Gavin. His LED cycles for a second at the thought, then he hesitantly goes inside. He feels the vibrations of the music shake his insides uncomfortably and he already wants to leave. 

 

There’s a decent crowd over by the dance floor and all the seats at the bar are filled. Finding Gavin might prove to be more difficult than expected. He goes off to the side and tries to scan the faces and body structure from afar. It takes him a few minutes, but he barely spots Gavin’s face on the dance floor, only seeing him for a few seconds. He grimaces and starts on his way to get through the small group. 

  
  


_ -0100001001101100011000010110110101100101- _

  
  


Tina didn’t show up, well, she declined, but that wasn’t going to stop Gavin. He’s already had a few drinks and is already feeling it. Hell, he’s dancing, but he’s sure it doesn’t look great, either, but it’s giving his mind something to do other than think about work. A break from looking at dismembered androids and a break from Nines.

 

“Reed!” Someone shouts over the loud music and a cold hand grabs onto his wrist.

 

Gavin looks up and scowls, seeing Nines look at him with an awkward look on his face. “The fuck?”

 

“We should start the case sooner than later, Reed,” Nines states and starts to pull him away from the dance floor.

 

“Fuck that. I need a break,” he says and tries to break out of the iron grip.

 

Nines stops and looks at him, his LED going to a yellow then back to blue. “Fine,” he says and lets go of his hand. “I’ll be waiting outside.”

 

Gavin watches as Nines starts to move out of the dancing group of people and Gavin feels something sink in his stomach. 

  
  


_ -0100111001101111001011000010000001110111011000010110100101110100- _

  
  


“Nines, wait,” Gavin says quiet enough that if Nines wasn’t a human he wouldn’t have heard it.

 

Nines turns back around. Gavin looks at him for a few seconds, just standing there, and huffs. “You should… dance,” he mumbles. Nines notices his face is flushed, either from the alcohol or his proposal… possibly both.

 

Nines cocks his head and squints. “I don’t dance, Reed.” People around them start moving away, as they stand stationary. 

 

“I don’t care. You should dance.”

  
  


_ -0100001001110101011101000010000001110111011010000111100100101100001000000101001001100101011001010110010000111111- _

  
  


Gavin watches as Nines looks around and at the other people dancing, probably scanning them, if he were to guess. He cracks a smile. “Did CyberLife not teach you how to dance?” Gavin jokes.

 

“It isn’t something necessary,” Nines answers back. Slowly, the android puts his right hand up and puts his left hand close to Gavin’s side. 

 

“You want… to ballroom dance to this kind of music?” Gavin’s smile grows as he watches Nines’ face scrunch and his hands fall back to his side almost in embarrassment. 

 

“N-No. That wasn’t…”

 

“Sure, of course not,” Gavin says and steps closer to Nines.  _ I’m so drunk right now.  _ “Just follow my lead.” He can’t for sure he’s one-hundred percent confident in his dancing, especially right now, but the times when he tried to dance to music videos in high school has helped. 

 

Gavin starts swaying to the song. His dancing isn’t the best, as he’s tipsy too, not to mention, but Nines watches him like a hawk and his heart is beating fast.  _ It’s the fucking alcohol.  _

 

Nines hesitantly starts to copy him. He’s stiff in his movements and he definitely doesn’t look confident in himself, but he sure as hell looks cute like this.

 

_ That’s the alcohol talking. It is. It really is. _

  
  


_ -010101000110100001100001011101000010011101110011001000000110001101110101011101000110010100111111- _

  
  


Nines feels something he hasn’t felt before. His core temperature is higher than usual and he doesn’t want to make a mistake, even though he’s sure his movements look dumb. Gavin seems to be into it though, which gives him the confidence to continue dancing in the first place.

 

Gavin gets more comfortable in his movements as well. Slowly getting closer to Nines as he moves around. Gavin smiles and Nines grits his teeth and feels the same twisting sensation in his stomach mixed with bass shaking it, too, this time. Gavin’s hands press on Nines’ chest, the twisting becoming more intense. 

 

“D-Detective.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

The Detective looks up at Nines and they stare at each other. They’re pressed up against each other, both unmoving, almost like they’re locked together now. Gavin turns his head slightly and moves forward. Nines can feel chapped lips press against his and the twisting releases. His insides feel like they’re melting as he stays there without moving as Gavin kisses him.  _ Kisses  _ him. Gavin pulls away.

 

Nines’ mouth is open with no words coming out and Gavin just laughs. Everything in that smile and laugh makes that man looks perfect. 

  
  


-01000010011001010110010101101110001000000111010001101000011010010110111001101011011010010110111001100111-

  
  


Gavin watches Nines stand there like his main processor shut down or some shit.  _ Why did I kiss him? Should I have done that? Fuck it. It doesn’t matter now.  _

 

Nines slowly composes himself and he looks down at his hand, closing it and opening it, then looks at Gavin. “Gavin…” Nines’ fingers go up to his own lips and touches them gently. Nines pauses and his hands go to Gavin’s side and he slowly moves his face towards Gavin’s. He kisses back and Nines slowly starts moving into it more.

 

_ It’s the alcohol.  _ He repeats in his head as the kiss becomes more heated. Gavin wraps his arms around Nines and pulls him closer and goes deeper into the kiss. The warmth of his body melting with Nine’s cold one gives him goosebumps and doesn’t stop. The inside of Nines’ mouth isn’t as warm as a humans would be and his saliva is noticeably thick. Gavin pulls away and catches his breath, staring at Nines with a very similar expression as him. Mouth open, eyes half-lidded, and face blushing a light red. Gavin bites his lip and then rests his forehead on Nines’ chest. 

 

“Gavin…” Nines repeats again.

 

“I love… you too,” Gavin chokes out.

 

Nines puts his hands up on Gavin’s back and hugs him. “I’m glad you figured it out.” He rests his chin on top of Gavin’s head. “...I love you.”

 

Gavin chuckles and grits his teeth, realizing what he’s gotten himself into.

 

“Gavin, we should start working on our case.”

 

He groans and pulls away from Nines, rubbing his face. “Fuck… You need to come back to my place, right?”

 

Nines nods. “Indeed. I’ll have to borrow some of your clothes.”

 

Gavin’s heart squeezes at the thought of Nines in one of his shirts. Would he even be able to fit in any of them? “Yeah. Sure.”

 

“Do you think you’ll be sober enough to work?”

 

“Fuck, Nines. I can hold my drink.” Nines raises an eyebrow at his response. “God, fine. I’ll take a cold shower when we get home.”

 

The ride home on the motorcycle was more nerve-racking than usual with him. Nines insisted on driving and Gavin was trapped in thought. The android snapped back so quickly to thinking about work that the kiss almost felt like it was a way of luring him. He shouldn’t think like that, but it is how he feels.

 

Gavin unlocks his apartment door and tosses the keys on the island counter once he steps inside. Monty trots over, the end of her tail looking like a hook.

 

“Hey, there’s my pretty girl!” Gavin coos and kneels down to pet her. A smile small dashes across his face. He stands up. “Let’s see if you can wear anything of mine.”

 

His room is exactly how he left it, a little messy, but still functional. Gavin opens up a drawer and digs through his clothes. He holds up an old band t-shirt he wore all the time in college. It’s a bit big on him, as he was chubbier in college for eating nothing but ramen noodles and other cheap garbage foods.

 

“Try this on,” Gavin says and tosses it at Nines who grabs it without moving from his place. He closes that drawer and opens another one to get Nines some pants that won't make him look like a lawyer. “Hey, what about these —”

 

Nines is putting on the shirt and Gavin’s eyes go straight to look at his chest on… “accident”. He can see a few freckles that dot over his shoulders and stomach, and, strangely enough, he doesn’t have nipples. The other thing that catches his attention is the number of knives strapped to his chest, wrists, and waistline. Nines finishes pulling the shirt over his head and he looks straight at Gavin. The shirt is still a little tight, but it’ll have to work.

 

“Uh… t-try these,” he repeats himself while handing him the jeans and knows that he should face the other way, yet he stares, well, he makes an effort to not be  _ too  _ obvious at least. Nines is completely bare and isn’t even wearing boxers and his crotch just looks like one of a Barbie doll. He takes the pants and gets them about halfway up his legs until they get stuck around his thighs. There are two other straps wrapped around his thighs that have a knife tucked into them.

 

“...You’re staring, Detective,” Nines says with a smile.

 

“I need t-to know if they fit or not,” he straight out lies.

 

Nines tries again to pull the jeans over his hips and does a little hop, getting nowhere. “There’s your answer.” Nines sighs and takes them off, folding them neatly. 

 

“You just gonna stand there like that?” Gavin blurts out.

 

He cocks his head and gives a devious smile that gives Gavin goosebumps. “And what if I am, Detective?”  Gavin bites his lip and feels the blood rushing to his groin.  _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Really? Just from this?  _ “I think you should take that cold shower, Gavin. Although — ” His eyes dart downward and at Gavin’s crotch —” I would like to accompany you,” he says and puts the jeans on the end of his bed.

 

“What? Are you serious?”

 

“I don’t know much about… pleasing someone, but I want to express my affection to you like another human would,” he says simply.

 

Gavin snorts and folds his arms. “That’s one way to put it…” After a brief moment of science, Gavin hesitantly goes to the bathroom and Nines follows.

 

He starts getting the water running and waiting for it to heat up.  _ Is he really going to do this? What is Nines even going to do?  _ He turns around and Nines is taking off his shirt  _ again  _ and Gavin feels his heart start to rush.  _ I shouldn’t be this fucking nervous… it’s only been a... few years. _

 

Taking a deep breath, Gavin starts stripping down by taking off his shirt as well, feeling the cold gaze of Nines watching over him. “Now, you’re the one staring,” Gavin says with a small smirk.

 

Nines steps forward, still working on removing the many numbers of knives and straps. “Of course I am.” He places the last knife with the rest of them on the counter and puts his hand on Gavin’s chest. Exactly where his heart is. “ I crave to know everything about this body of yours,” he says and drags his hand down to the waistband of his jeans. Gavin swallows a lump in his throat and feels his heartbeat quicken. “Do you want this?”

 

“Y-Yes,” Gavin chokes out.

 

Nines steps closer and his hand grabs onto the waistband, slowly tugging it down along with his boxers. The android sizes him up, then makes eye contact with Gavin. “Let’s step in the shower. I don't want this to get me messy.”

 

Gavin steps into the bathtub and the hot water feels great against his skin. A cold shower helps sobering someone up, but… He ignores the thought and watches Nines get in, the craving to just feel his cold hands around his dick rising with every second. 

 

Nines pulls Gavin close to him and starts kissing him, his hands wandering around Gavin’s back. He feels the same thick saliva with his tongue and he wants desperately to feel that mouth on his dick. He wants and wants and wants. Nines pulls away from the kiss and starts kissing his neck, then bites and sucks which earns a small moan from Gavin. The biting stops momentarily at the sound, but he continues and goes down to kiss on his chest, then his stomach. 

 

“Lie down,” Nines commands and Gavin wastes no time. He lies with his head against the wall and watches Nines sit and lean down over Gavin. “I use my mouth, correct?”

 

“God, yes. I want to fuck your mouth, Nines, please,“ Gavin begs, his mind torturing him with how it’ll feel, then Nines drags his tongue up the base of his cock to the tip and Gavin tries to stifle his moan, but it’s still loud and whiny.

 

He goes down on him and his mouth his hot and warm and wet and Gavin bucks into his mouth and Nines takes him  _ whole _ . “Ah! Fuck, fuck, Nines. Oh my god.”

 

Gavin watches him bob up and down in a set rhythm, his thick saliva serving a great purpose. Nines looks up at Gavin, remaining eye contact with him as he goes down all the way to the base again where his nose touches his pelvis. He goes up and swirls his tongue around his dick. Gavin bucks his hips instinctively as Nines pulls away from his dick with a smile, the water making his hair go in his face.

 

“You’re so cute like this.” His hand wraps around his cock while he talks. “If I had known you were a hot, filthy mess just by me sucking you off, I think I would have done this earlier,” Nines purrs out, his hand slowly running over his cock. Gavin opens his mouth to talk, but another whimper spills out of his mouth by the feeling of his cold hand and the hot water on him. 

 

Nines leans down and starts kissing his chest again while his hand pumps Gavin’s dick. His wet hair tickles his skin and the hot kisses make him want to melt. He bites around Gavin’s nipple, getting playfully close every time until he nibbles carefully on the nipple, then licks it.

 

“Nines, I want your mouth, fuck,” Gavin chokes out.

 

The android leans back again and he can feel his tongue and mouth and not even a few seconds with his mouth on his and dick he cums. Nines sits up quickly, covering his mouth, then turns and spits. Gavin sighs and relaxes, taking quick breaths and also ignoring Nines’ disgust.

 

“ _ Gross. _ ” Nines turns back around with his fingers in his mouth. “...We should actually get some cleaning done while we’re in here.”

 

“Ugh, yeah,” Gavin says, still breathing heavily.

 

They both carefully stand up and Nines is already getting out shampoo and putting it on his hand. “May I wash your hair?”

 

“Why the hell not.”

 

Nines smiles and lathers the soap in Gavin’s hair. He scratches his scalp and Gavin leans into the touch, enjoying it. His mind wanders to what just unfurled only moments earlier. He sadly admits he hasn’t had sex in quite some time and Nines worked him  _ well. _ It’s weird how much of a natural he was with his tongue even though he said he wasn't confident. Maybe he did his research? Who knows with him, really.

 

“You’re hair is so soft.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“It’s... nice…” He lets Gavin rinse out the shampoo and gets out the small bottle of conditioner. Nines barely gets anything out of it, but he insists on using it anyway. “Hey, Gavin?”

 

“What?”

 

“Are we… dating?”

 

“Fuck, I don’t know. You did just fuck me, so I’d say yes,” Gavin puts it simply. 

 

“Hmm.” A part of Gavin wants to ask about the pictures, but he also doesn’t want to ruin the moment. Nines looks so pleased. 

 

They finish up and get out of the shower, now both wrapped up in towels. Gavin rubs the fog off the mirror with his arm and chuckles, seeing how messy Nines’ hair is. “You should keep your hair like that all the time.”

 

“That would look unprofessional. My hair works fine in its usual style, Detective,” he says while running his fingers through his hair.

 

“Why don’t we slick it back?” Gavin offers. “It’ll make you look different than normal.”

 

“...Sure.”

 

Gavin opens the cabinet under his sink and pulls out some hair gel that’s barely been used and hands it to Nines, who starts work on it once the container is in his hands. Gavin looks at Nines in the mirror and stares at his chest, slowly drying himself off with his towel.

 

“Why didn’t Cyberlife give you guys nipples? Like that just makes you look like a fucking doll.”

 

“Some androids do and some don’t. It was proven as unnecessary for the RK900 series.”

“Unnecessary, huh?”

 

“Mhmm.”

 

“Well, I think it would make you look more natural. You don’t have a cock and balls either, which is something.”

 

“Again, it was deemed as unnecessary,” Nines says a bit sternly. 

 

“They have shops for those kinds of stuff, you know? For androids. Those places always have creeped me out just by walking past them.”

 

His LED cycles for a few seconds and he stops messing around with his hair. “I think this will do. I’m going to get changed into your clothes and I doubt any of your jeans will fit me,” he explains.

 

“Fuck, Nines. Let’s just stay here. We can deal with the fuckin’ case later.”

 

Nines looks away from his reflection and at Gavin. “Our case is important, Detective Reed.”

 

“Yeah, I know, but we’re not the only cops in the world.”

 

His face crumples awkwardly for a second and his LED goes yellow. “...Fine.”

 

“Go on and get dressed. I’ll finish up in here.”

  
  


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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot shorter than I planned it to be, but here we are! I suspect the next chapter will take some time to write, but I want to stick with it here!


End file.
